Only shattered glass and the skeletal frame of the Haussmannian roof remain of Limoges’s 19th-century town hall. The town was among the places hit hardest by the rioting and looting that erupted across France over the weekend, leaving the country reeling from its worst violence in years. The towering spire at the heart of Limoges ultimately collapsed in flames, drawing cheers from the crowd below that were captured on video.
In Paris, the Louvre Museum said it was closed after protesters announced their blockade of the iconic tourist site. Authorities conceded they had “lost control” in major cities, and said Monday they had asked some cities to impose a curfew in a bid to restore order. The unrest came on the heels of an anti-government movement that had seen days of largely peaceful protests over rising living costs and poor school conditions.
On the weekend, this unrest descended into violence on the streets of cities across France: rioters, often hooded and masked, looted stores and torched cars and government buildings as they faced off with the police. More than half a million people took part in the protests across France, according to the interior ministry, and nearly 2,400 people were arrested. Almost 1,000 police officers and firefighters were injured, it added.
Macron blamed “troublemakers from far-left fringe groups” for the violence. Macron will leave the presidency of the Eurozone’s second-biggest nation with ballooned debt, stagnated growth and deep-seated social discontent. As the damage became clearer on Sunday, political leaders across the spectrum pointed fingers at each other for the violence.
Macron’s centrist government blamed the far-left, while the leading far-left candidate Jean-Luc Mélenchon blamed the incumbents. Leading far-right presidential hopeful Marine Le Pen on Sunday called Macron’s administration “exhausted, disoriented and seemingly incapable of doing anything other than commenting on its own powerlessness.” She leads the polls ahead of April’s vote. Macron stopped short of declaring an emergency, as some right-wing politicians demanded.
But some cities, including the southern port city of Marseille, imposed a ban on public gatherings for most of Monday. Speaking after a government crisis meeting Monday, Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu said he had asked some local authorities to introduce curfews. Unrest had continued in Paris on Sunday as police faced off with demonstrators at Place de la République.
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