France Counts 1,800 Arrests and Widespread Damage After a Day of Protests and Riots

French police arrested about 1,800 people on Saturday after mostly peaceful nationwide demonstrations were followed by rioting and looting in Paris, Marseille, Lille and other places, the BBC reported. On Sunday morning, shopkeepers and clean-up crews were clearing broken glass and debris from city streets.

The protests were aimed at rising fuel prices, the cost of living and declining public services, including schools. According to the BBC, the violence came from separate groups, some of them masked and dressed in black, who set fire to cars and buildings.

The key numbers from Saturday's unrest

• About 1,800 arrests: the number of people police detained on Saturday, according to the BBC.
• Some 550,000 demonstrators: the BBC said this many people took to the streets, and that the protests were largely peaceful.
• 150 injured officers: Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu said this many police officers were hurt in the unrest.
• 143 years old: the age of the Limoges town hall, which the BBC said was set on fire, causing part of it to collapse.
• Hundreds of thousands: the number of people the BBC says have joined student protests in France since they began late last month, demanding more investment in schools.

What happened in the cities

In Paris, riot police used tear gas and water cannon on crowds, according to the BBC. Some groups lit street fires and burned vehicles. At least one restaurant was gutted, and the BBC saw fighting between some groups. Police were also seen charging a crowd in central Paris and hitting several people with batons.

In Marseille, protesters broke into city hall using a metal fence as a battering ram. In Lille, police said a McDonald's was set on fire, and an Apple store was broken into and looted.

In Lyon, the city's tourist office was burned. Mayor Grégory Doucet told BFMTV the loss was “a tragedy” and called the building iconic and historic. Local police said hostile individuals stopped firefighters from tackling the blaze safely.

In Limoges, fire crews fought a blaze at the town hall. Local officials said it was largely lost. Maurice Barate, the prefect of the Haute-Vienne department, said a group had deliberately set fire to the building.

In Saint-Étienne, Mayor Régis Juanico said on social media that a young man had his hand blown off by a small explosive.

France's interior ministry said the protests included “targeted acts of violence” by hooded individuals in places including parts of Paris, Marseille, Rennes, Toulouse and Angers. Damage to buildings was also reported in Grenoble, Avignon, Pau, Montpellier and Valence.

Protesters or opportunists?

The BBC reported that the owner of a ransacked clothes shop near the Place de la République, who asked not to be named, did not believe the people who robbed him were genuine protesters. He said they were exploiting the demonstrations. He told the BBC that CCTV showed looters in his shop for just over an hour and a half and that he saw no police during that time.

Footage shown on French television, the BBC said, showed groups of mostly masked teenagers helping themselves to goods in a mobile phone shop. Some shopfronts were also covered in graffiti with anti-wealth slogans, and designer stores including Ralph Lauren, Gucci and Versace had their windows smashed.

Why it matters: the grievances and the damage

For people in the affected cities, the immediate impact is physical: shattered storefronts, burned cars and bikes, and damaged public buildings that include a town hall and a tourist office. Shop owners were left to sweep up and assess losses, while rubbish trucks cleared debris from larger streets in Paris.

The unrest also puts the protesters' underlying complaints in the spotlight. Demonstrators are objecting to higher fuel costs, living expenses and strained public services, and students have demanded more teachers and staff, less crowded classrooms and repairs to run-down school buildings. The BBC's account makes clear that the large, largely peaceful marches and the violence were different things, even though they happened on the same day.

Source: BBC News