More than 1,200 people were arrested in France on Saturday after protesters clashed with police, the prime minister announced. According to the prime minister, 150 police officers were injured.
Protests took place in numerous French cities, with the interior ministry reporting that 550,000 people participated. The trade union CGT, however, stated that 800,000 people took part. Hundreds of thousands of people marched peacefully in street demonstrations, but parts of the demonstrations went out of control — buildings were set on fire and shops were looted.
The interior minister stated that the protests had been taken over by "casseurs" (rioters), and that the government did not plan to declare a state of emergency. Violent groups targeted public buildings, luxury boutiques, and supermarkets, and attacked police vehicles and officers. Police fired tear gas in clashes with protesters.
In Limoges, a councillor was "largely lost" in a fire caused by masked protesters, according to reports. The local prefect, Maurice Barbet, said that the roof had collapsed onto lower floors, except for the west wing, and that two-thirds of the building's exterior had already been destroyed. He highlighted that the damage to the 143-year-old building was a "catastrophe for heritage".
In Marseille, protesters broke into the town hall, breaking the doors with security barriers removed from the street. One protester had written the letter 'A' for anarchy on the wall with a spray can before police removed it. In that city, bin bags were set on fire.
Near the Place de la République in central Paris, a peaceful march turned violent. Police fired tear gas at masked rioters in black who were throwing fireworks and stones, attacking a bank and looting a sports shop. One protester shouted: "We are taking the Bastille!" Others set fire to bin bags on wheels and threw them into bin bags, overturning glass containers and pulling out bottles to use as projectiles. A truck was also set alight, and the fire spread to a nearby building.
Dozens of shops were broken into and looted along the Boulevard Magenta. Groups tried to break into the Galeries Lafayette, breaking banks, looting a Lacoste shop and other boutiques, and looting a mobile phone shop. Residents in nearby streets had to close their windows and doors as huge clouds of tear gas rose to roof level.
The Saturday mobilisation followed calls on social media to revive the movement of the yellow vests, which began in 2018 in protest against social injustice. The protests began last month in schools in the poor northern suburbs of Paris, but anger at the absence of teachers and poor conditions quickly turned into a national movement against inequality, weak public spending, and falling standards. The Saturday protests called on teachers, students, workers, retirees, and farmers to join and expand the movement.
The trade union CGT, one of the largest in France, supported the protests, calling for "higher wages and pensions, lower prices, and the protection of public services that meet people's needs". Protesters in reflective vests blocked the streets. According to a poll of 2,000 people conducted in October, 45 per cent of French people were worried about the rising cost of living and inflation.
The far left and far right in France were both seeking to exploit the protest movement — the left positioned itself on the side of the protesters, while the right sided with the police. Jean-Luc Mélenchon, leader of the far-left party La France Insoumise, marched in the protest on Tuesday and expressed support for the student protesters. He called on protesters to avoid looting, describing it as "contrary to our methods". The far-right candidate Marine Le Pen condemned the "rioters" and stated that her party had "legitimised violence".
A large police presence was visible in the centre of Paris, especially near landmarks such as the Avenue des Champs-Élysées and the Arc de Triomphe, which were excluded from the routes of the two official protests. The mayor of Paris, Emmanuel Grégoire, said that whole streets in Paris had been "devastated".
