The French government convened crisis talks on Sunday after a day of widespread violence across the country. Public buildings were burned, hundreds of shops were destroyed and looted, and more than 2,000 people were arrested in various cities.
Politicians from both the left and right have called for the resignation of Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez, with the government appearing to have been surprised by the scale of the violence. State buildings were stormed and torched, bus stops were smashed, roads barricaded, and shops broken into.
President Emmanuel Macron, who is set to step down next spring, was preparing to address the nation on Sunday night. He stated on social media that there is “no place for violence” in France.
Separately from peaceful demonstrations, groups engaged in moving gatherings, sporadic burning, street barricading, and clashes with police in cities including Paris, Bordeaux, Nice, and Marseille. Masked looters also took advantage of the situation, smashing shopfronts and taking goods.
In Paris, police reported a record 855 arrests, with streets littered with the remains of burnt barricades and torched cars. The Socialist deputy mayor, Lamia El Aaraje, described the level of violence in the capital as unprecedented.