Thunder and lightning have boomed across Marseille following the weekend's mayhem, illuminating the cracked windows and boarded-up doors of hundreds of businesses that were smashed as protests gave way to disorder. France's second city saw some of the worst violence as chaos gripped the country on Saturday. Local business leaders say more than 500 premises were damaged, and the majority looted.
A police union boss told the BBC that the weekend had been an "apocalyptic" hell for his colleagues. 118 officers were injured, representing more than a tenth of the national figure. So far, 101 arrests have been made in the port city, a quarter of them children. But by Monday, it was police who were most conspicuous on the city's streets, not protesters.
For eight hours, demonstrations and gatherings were banned in an effort to avoid a third consecutive day of disorder. Katya Adler: France's government under pressure after weekend of widespread violence Suspect arrested after historic town hall set alight - French media It seemed to work; the largest central gathering we witnessed was a posse of weather-beaten tourists trudging around the quayside. Nonetheless, an overnight curfew for minors is expected to be announced for some parts of the city from Tuesday.
Marseille is one of France's most ethnically diverse cities – a place where generations of new arrivals have landed. 18-year-old student Maryame only arrived in the southern city a few weeks ago, albeit from the countryside not too far away. "It was very scary because it's my first time in a big city, and also my first time demonstrating," she said. Maryame said violence engulfed the student demonstration her friends had joined as looters began attacking shops.
She said the solidarity of the earlier march was "beautiful" and the subsequent disorder "terrifying", but went on to say that she was conflicted as to whether even more violence would make the government sit up and listen. "It is a very complicated question if violence is legitimate," she began. "But the thing is, France, our history is really based on revolution, and sometimes we really have to make a really big impact.
For the police, the extent to which order disintegrated was a shock, according to one organisation representing rank and file officers. "It was a war," said Arnaud Blaise from the UN1TE police union. "An unheard-of level of violence.
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