France has recently seen students protesting for better conditions at school and uni. Over the weekend they were joined by crowds angry about the rising cost of living. The protests ended in chaos ― not just in France.
Image: Jack Taylor/REUTERS
In Limoges, France, rioters set the historic townhall on fire, in Lyon it was the city’s tourism information center. In Paris, protesters tried to break into the Elysee Palace, in Marseille and Avignon, they attacked a police station and the prefecture building, respectively.
Image: Melaine Payzal/AFP
French President Emmanuel Macron sharply criticized protesters who had turned to violence. “Those who looted will have to pay for the damage and those who sought to bring down the Republic will be held accountable,” Macron said in a televised address Sunday night. Roughly 2,400 people were arrested in France over the weekend.
Image: Nicolas Economou/NurPhoto/picture alliance
Estimates for the total number of protesters across France ranged from 550,000 to 800,000. In Paris, people initially gathered peacefully in the Place de la Republique on Saturday. The protest centered on the high price of gas and a call for better conditions in French schools.
Image: Stephanie Lecocq/REUTERS
Soon however it became clear that some of the people in the streets wanted to express their anger in violent ways. Stones were thrown, stores looted and buildings set on fire.
Image: Kai Pfaffenbach/REUTERS
A shop owner in Paris told the BBC they did not think the people looting shops were genuine protesters, rather they were individuals taking advantage of the unrest. Security camera footage showed young people breaking into mobile phone shops and helping themselves.
Image: Mattia David Rinaldi/IPA/ZUMA/picture alliance
Sports stores like Decathlon and Intersport were looted. An Apple store, branches of famed department store Galeries Lafayette and luxury labels Celine, Rolex, Louis Vuitton and Christian Dior were also targeted. Galeries Lafayette told industry publication Women’s Wear Daily that they had closed early as a precaution and that its Bordeaux branch was worst impacted.
Image: Emma Da Silva/AP Photo/picture alliance
France’s Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu blamed the “ultra-left” and criminals for the violence. According to the French Interior Ministry, roughly 500 police, firefighters and paramedics were injured over the weekend. In the southern French city of Saint-Etienne, a 17-year-old boy lost his right hand to a crowd control grenade.
Image: Stephane Mahe/REUTERS
Because of the high deficit and the state’s high debt, the French government doesn’t have a lot of room to react to the protesters’ demands. The National Assembly is currently debating the budget for 2027, which includes cuts that are projected at around €45 billion ($50.5 billion).
Image: Matthieu Rondel/AFP
In the aftermath of the violence, it was estimated that around 1,500 businesses in France were damaged and that locals were looking at losses in the hundreds of millions of euros.
Image: Florian Poitout/ABACA/picture alliance
On Monday, Parisians awoke to scenes of destruction after groups lit fires in the street and torched vehicles. At least one restaurant was gutted by fire. “It’s like we had a war,” one Paris resident told news agency AFP. It was “terrifying,” another added.
Image: Emma Da Silva/AP Photo/picture alliance
In central Milan, Italy, what started as a peaceful march to protest rising living costs on Saturday ended with masked people throwing stones and other objects at riot police and setting fire to barricades made from bar tables.
Image: Alessandro Bremec/IPA/picture alliance
On Sunday there was further damage and violence, with black-clad youths seen ransacking a supermarket and other shops. Bus shelters, and parked cars were also damaged. Local news agencies reported that at least two police officers were injured and about 50 demonstrators, including many minors, were detained.
Image: Stefano Porta/LaPresse/AP Photo/picture alliance
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said that holding demonstrations was a democratic right but that “setting our cities on fire is not.” On social media, she said that “hooligans” had exploited the protests. Milan Mayor Giuseppe Sala argued that while he understood the reasons for the protests, “violence against law enforcement and serious damage to the city are not justifiable.”
Image: Nicola Marfisi/AGF/ZUMA/picture alliance
In the Portuguese capital Lisbon, a protest that drew tens of thousands of demonstrators upset about rising costs and Lisbon’s housing crisis ended with an informal, overnight camp being built in a central square. A similar camp in the Portuguese city of Porto had already been removed by authorities.
Image: Hugo Amaral/SOPA Images/Sipa USA/picture alliance
Portuguese demonstrators say low wages are failing to keep pace with the rising cost of living. Portugal’s inflation was at 3.6% in September and Portuguese housing prices went up by 124% between 2015 and 2024, about twice as much as the EU average. Rents for new leases have nearly doubled since 2017, news agency Reuters reported.
Image: Ricardo Rocha/ZUMA/picture alliance
Similar protests in Spain in late September also saw a tent city established in Madrid’s central Puerta del Sol plaza. More than 1,000 tents are thought to have been erected there following protests after the eviction of 87-year-old Maricarmen from her home in Madrid. The encampment remains even as municipal authorities call for its removal.
Image: Bernat Armangue/AP Photo/picture alliance16 images1 | 1616 imageshttps://p.dw.com/p/5OOhV
