France’s President Emmanuel Macron has condemned the “failures in anticipation and intelligence” by French authorities, the Elysee Palace said Monday, after nationwide cost-of-living protests were marred by violence.
Despite the failures, Macron has refused the resignation of Interior Minister Laurent Nunez, the presidential palace added.
Macron and his government are under pressure from opposition politicians, who have called for Nunez to be removed, after mass rallies on Saturday over the rising cost of living and high fuel costs turned violent.
In some of the worst urban violence France has seen in years, nearly 2,400 people were arrested, while almost 1,000 police and gendarmes (French armed police) were injured, the Interior Ministry said Sunday.
Interior minister: Police ‘lost control’ of situation
Nunez on Monday admitted that police across the country had “lost control” of the situation over the weekend.
As tens of thousands of people took to streets across the country to protest rising costs and social inequality, crowds of mostly masked and mostly male youths clashed with police, looting shops and torching public and private property, including the historic Limoges city hall.
Nunez agreed with Macron over what he called authorities’ “lack of anticipation,” saying he tendered his resignation “because I felt responsible for everything that happened.”
Macron has instructed Nunez to “take all necessary steps to ensure transparency over the failures in planning and intelligence that led to the violence,” according to a statement from his office.
The president also ordered Nunez to “put in place new operational methods for security forces” to handle the crisis — and how to deal with violent looters — moving forward.
Organizers, hoping to revive the momentum of the 2018-2019 “Yellow Vest” movement that challenged Macron during his first term, called the protests just six months before the country is set to elect his replacement.
This weekend’s mobilization called on students, workers, retirees, farmers, climate activists and anti-fascists to take to the streets and voice their dissatisfaction with the country’s economic and social outlook.
France’s CGT union put nationwide turnout at 500,000.
Initially it was reported that only 10,000 police and gendarmes had been deployed nationwide. But the Interior Ministry quickly corrected that tally, saying that 60,000 had been mobilized ahead of the protests, including 5,000 in Paris.
Paris deployed 14,000 police and gendarmes in Paris alone during a recent high-profile visit by Pope Leo XIV, when as many as 700,000 people gathered in the center of the capital to hear the pontiff deliver Mass.
Macron’s opponents looking to assign blame
Jean-Luc Melenchon, leader of the far-left France Unbowed (“La France Insoumise”, or LFI) party and a perennial presidential candidate, attended the rally in Paris on Saturday.
Melenchon has criticized media coverage of the unrest, stressing that most demonstrations had been peaceful.
His rival Marine Le Pen of the far-right National Rally (RN) accused him of “legitimizing violence” and seeking to “plunge the country into chaos.”
Le Pen’s political ally and successor as RN leader, Jordan Bardella, described those responsible for the violence as “professionals of chaos” and accused the far left of discrediting legitimate social demands.
Benoit Payan, the left-wing mayor of Marseille, slammed violent protesters using the event as an excuse to destroy property and attack police in remarks to French outlet BFMTV, saying, “It is unacceptable to use this type of claim to enter, break and destroy the foundations that unite us as a nation.”
Payan described violent protesters as “useful idiots of the far right.”
