France: 1,800 Arrests After Riots and Looting at Nationwide Protests
Many people in France are shaken by the violence and looting during the nationwide protest day, the German broadcaster Deutsche Welle reports. Streets in central Paris were strewn with rubbish, thrown-around bicycles and items from looted shops, and traces of fires set by rioters were visible in many places. Street cleaners worked around the clock from the night to tidy up the capital.
Arrests and injuries
According to Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez, 1,800 people were arrested during the protests. In Paris alone, 855 people were taken into custody, the police prefecture said. Nationwide, 500 police officers and firefighters were injured, the minister said, adding that the figures are preliminary. Investigations are under way to bring those responsible for the violence, damage and looting to court.
Looting and serious damage occurred in Paris, Marseille, Lyon, Bordeaux, Rennes, Strasbourg, Grenoble, Nice and other cities. In Limoges, in central France, the extent of destruction became clear at the historic city hall: rioters set the listed building on fire. “Thanks to the emergency response, the rear part of the building could be saved,” Haute-Vienne prefect Maurice Barate told BFMTV. The blaze was only brought under control in the morning.
Reactions
Various groups joined the protest day, including pupils and students who have been demonstrating for weeks for better learning conditions. The call to protest could not be clearly attributed to any organisation. Besides education, the demands covered high fuel prices, low wages, and problems in agriculture and the fire service. With a large budget deficit and high debt, the government has limited room to meet the demands.
Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu said the police faced “a particularly violent ultra-left, a very well-organised, opaque group that methodically tried to attack property, people and the institutions of the Republic.” Justice Minister Gérald Darmanin spoke of “riots of unprecedented scale that are still continuing” and urged prosecutors to respond with great determination. President Emmanuel Macron said: “There is no place for violence in our Republic,” promising that those who destroyed prefectures and shops and looted town halls will be prosecuted and punished.
Italy
Violence also broke out in Italy on the margins of peaceful demonstrations against the high cost of living, mainly in Milan, where masked youths threw fireworks and bottles at police on Piazza del Duomo and built barricades, ANSA reports. In Milan at least four police officers and 20 demonstrators were injured and more than 50 young people arrested, half of them minors.