• Over 500,000 people join demonstrations nationwide over rising living costs
• Govt blames far-left groups and criminals for violence, while far-right leader calls for Macron to step down
• Trump blames immigration for turmoil

PARIS: As fresh clashes broke out after France suffered one of its worst days of unrest in years, President Emmanuel Macron slammed the “unbridled” violence on Sunday but stopped short of announcing any drastic measure such as a state of emergency or curfew.

“Tonight, we all feel anger and shame,” Macron said in an address to the nation, after the arrest of nearly 2,400 people amid violent protests over high prices that left one demonstrator dead and around 1,000 police and gendarmes injured.

President Macron said there must be a distinction between protesters with “legitimate demands” with “those who destroyed, smashed, and looted”. Those who have destroyed must pay, he said, vowing the government would be “uncompromising” towards the “agitators from ultra-left fringe groups, joined by numerous delinquents” who “unleashed unbridled violence in our cities”.

More than half a million people joined marches in scores of cities on Saturday, marking the convergence of a month-long student movement with broader social discontent against rising living costs.

AFP journalists said police fired tear gas and stun grenades at hundreds of people gathered in a Paris square following social media calls for a gathering that authorities said had not been approved. Bottles and rocks were hurled at police who made several arrests.

Shops were also looted around Republique square with anti-riot police deployed for the second day. Besides violence erupted in the southeastern city of Lyon where police thwarted youths who attempted to smash the windows of a luxury clothing store.

With images of French town halls being burnt grabbing headlines around the world, US President Donald Trump waded into the debate, blaming immigration for the unrest.

“France is burning! The immigration of people from an entirely different world, people with hatred in their hearts, has shattered that once great country,” Trump said in a post on his Truth Social platform. “Close your Borders and take control, before it is too late!”

‘All necessary lessons’

Macron vowed that top officials would “make decisions in coordination with mayors to protect our cities, public buildings, and businesses.” “Seeing the streets of our cities ransacked in this way is unbearable,” he said, pledging “support” for businesses that suffered. He also vowed “full transparency” over the response by security forces to the protests.

Some opposition politicians called for the sacking of Interior Minister Laurent Nunez. Macron said he had asked Nunez to “draw all necessary lessons”, particularly with regard to intelligence gathering and anticipation, adding he expected “clear answers”.

Published in Dawn, October 19th, 2026