France is confronting a major intelligence failure after authorities badly underestimated the scale of nationwide protests that descended into riots and looting. The days of chaos have prompted French President Emmanuel Macron to order a security review as senior officials acknowledged police "lost control" in several major cities and senior government officials have offered to resign after they failed to predict the level of pandemonium. Some 550,000 people joined 110 marches nationwide Saturday, according to France's Interior Ministry, far exceeding an intelligence estimate of roughly 200,000 demonstrators.
Organizers put turnout even higher, at 800,000. Cars burned in the streets, more than 1,500 stores were reportedly ransacked or destroyed and public buildings were attacked across the country. In Limoges, rioters broke into and torched a 19th-century city hall that had survived both world wars, causing its roof to collapse.
By Monday, the Louvre remained closed as student protesters blocked its entrances, extending the disruption into another day. TOP TOURIST DESTINATION IN THE WORLD SHUTS DOWN AMID VIOLENT PROTESTS The unrest overwhelmed some 60,000 police, gendarmes and other security personnel deployed nationwide. Nearly 1,000 law enforcement officers and firefighters were injured, at least 2,400 people were arrested and French authorities estimate some 3,000 businesses sustained damage.
As crowds swelled, police were stretched across multiple flashpoints while groups of masked rioters smashed storefronts, set fires and clashed with security forces. In some cities, authorities were unable to keep looters from moving through commercial districts even as officers struggled to contain the larger demonstrations. By Monday, Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez was acknowledging what shopkeepers and residents had already witnessed.
FRENCH NEWSPAPER RIPS MACRON AFTER RIOTS ERUPT ACROSS FRANCE: ‘INDELIBLE STAIN’ "Yes, Saturday, in certain large cities, we lost control," Nuñez said. He acknowledged a "lack of anticipation" ahead of the demonstrations and said authorities had underestimated not only the number of protesters but the violent groups that would exploit the unrest. Nuñez offered his resignation to Macron.
The president refused it and instead ordered a review of what the Élysée described as failures in planning and intelligence, demanding an accounting of how authorities had been caught so badly off guard. Justice Minister Gérald Darmanin was even more direct. "We unquestionably failed," Darmanin said, pointing specifically to intelligence and France's difficulty tracking and confronting the ultra-left.
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