France: about 1,800 arrested after cost-of-living protests end in riots and looting

France woke up on Sunday, 18 October, to widespread damage after a day of nationwide protests over the cost of living turned violent in several cities, the BBC and AFP reported.

The protests

• The interior ministry said about 550,000 people took part on Saturday; the CGT union put the number at 800,000, AFP reported. Demonstrators protested against rising fuel prices, the cost of living and deteriorating public services, including schools. The Yellow Vest movement had called the “yellow and youth” demonstrations, which followed weeks of student protests.
• Most marches were peaceful, but groups of masked rioters set fire to cars and buildings, and looting took place in Paris, Marseille, Lille and other cities.

The toll

• Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez said about 1,800 people were arrested. In Paris, officials said 557 people were in custody after a “record” number of arrests (AFP).
• More than 500 police officers, gendarmes, firefighters and paramedics were injured, according to the interior ministry.
• About 1,500 shops and businesses were damaged, with losses estimated in the hundreds of millions of euros, the Retail and Trade Federation said.
• Limoges’ 19th-century town hall was largely destroyed by fire, which the local prefect said had been set deliberately. A tourist office in central Lyon was set ablaze. In Marseille protesters broke into the city hall.
• One person died during the main Paris march; officials said the death was health-related and not linked to the violence (AFP).

Political reactions

• Nuñez blamed “outrages” on “several thousand far-left individuals”, later joined by “delinquents” who looted businesses (BBC).
• Far-right leader Marine Le Pen also blamed ultra-left groups, while far-left leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon accused the authorities of inflaming tensions, AFP reported.
• President Emmanuel Macron, in his final months in office before elections in six months, was due to address the nation on Sunday evening, and Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu called a crisis meeting of ministers for Monday.