France’s President Emmanuel Macron addressed the nation on Sunday evening as communities reeled from one of the most violent nights of unrest in recent years after largely peaceful anti-government protests descended into rioting, leaving government buildings torched, one police officer and one protester dead.
Macron said that the full force of the law would be brought to bear on those who had damaged property or participated in rioting.
“Those who destroyed must pay,” Macron said. “Those who looted must pay back. Those who sought to bring down the Republic will be held accountable.”
Macron described the violence as the work of “seditious elements from far-left factions, joined by numerous delinquents.”
“Watching these images, we were all wondering: what had got into them? How can French people do that to France?”
“Nothing can justify it, explain it or excuse it,” Macron said. “Tonight we all feel both anger and shame.”
The president added that the government should listen to public grievances, and that many protesters did not participate in violence.
“Yesterday, hundreds of thousands of our compatriots demonstrated to state legitimate claims,” Macron said. “Never must we confuse the latter with those who destroyed and vandalized.”
Macron said that he had asked the government to convene stakeholders – including students, teachers, trade unionists and others – this week to discuss “concrete proposals.”
There were at least two deaths connected to rioting and protests over the weekend. A 22-year-old police officer died after being “struck by a third-party vehicle” in the city of Nantes, about 250 miles southwest of Paris, France’s Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said.
One protester died just north of Paris following a “cardiorespiratory arrest,” CNN affiliate BFMTV reported on Sunday, citing the Paris Police headquarters.
Police have detained more than 2,000 people, Nunez said,adding that more than 600 police officers were injured.
Scenes unfolded again on Sunday of police officers launching tear gas into the hallowed Place de la République, where dozens of people gathered in response to messages on social media to “continue the movement,” BFMTV reported. In the central city of Limoges, the 143-year-old town hall was set ablaze on Saturday, with video showing its spire collapsing. In Marseille, masked protesters dressed all in black broke into city hall and defaced the building, and in Lyon, protesters torched the city’s tourist office.
Lawmakers and regional officials launched mounting criticism over the government’s law enforcement plan, BFMTV said, with French Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu set to meet the mayors of Paris, Lyon and Marseille, who called for greater reinforcement to repair the damage.
As night fell in Paris on Saturday, groups of young people looted shops and started fires as protests wound down, prompting police to respond with tear gas and baton charges in the narrow streets. Alexandre Bompard, CEO of retail giant Carrefour, said in a social media post Sunday that around 1,500 stores across the country were affected by violence.
More than 600 police officers have been injured, France’s Interior Minister Laurent Nunez posted on X on Sunday, warning that “nothing can justify” the unrest. Earlier this weekend, Lecornu also condemned “unacceptable levels of violence.”
The destruction followed what had been largely peaceful protests, which have grown out of sweeping student-led rallies that gripped parts of France last month, sparking a broader movement against crumbling schools, the spiking cost of living, and perceived government inaction. The rallies have become emblematic of long-simmering, intergenerational anger among people who say their calls for social and political change are going unmet by negligent governments.
Some 550,000 protesters hit the streets across France, including 110,000 in Paris, Nunez said on Saturday. Organizers said far more people turned out.
“There’s an accumulation of wealth and power that’s completely out of control,” one protester, who gave her name as Pauline, told CNN in Paris on Saturday.
“We’re also here to support the youth. There are victories, but if we look at the bigger picture, it’s not going in the right direction,” the 36-year-old added.
Another demonstrator complained of “less democracy” and a “concentration of power” under Macron’s leadership. “There are billionaires who control the media,” Louise, 38, told CNN. “We are fighting to change things.”
Macron slammed “sowers of chaos” for interfering with peaceful protests, and warned late on Saturday that “those who have broken, attacked (police) prefectures, as well as businesses, looted even our town halls, will be prosecuted and punished.”
French police detain a protester during clashes prior to the start of a demonstration in Marseille, southern France, on Saturday, October 17, 2026.Thibaud Moritz/AFP/Getty Images
“We do not back down in the face of rioters and those who’ve come to attack law enforcement,” said the Paris Police Prefecture – the body that oversees the Paris Police Force, emergency services and various other administrative departments – adding that its staffers stood “their ground with courage and professionalism.”
‘Two worlds, two realities’
The police response to the weeks of protest has come under scrutiny. Earlier in the week, that response had left a 14-year-old boy with a fractured jaw. Another police officer was captured on camera using a headlock on a girl in the northwestern area of Alençon, an action now prohibited by law.
This is the second reported instance of a demonstrator losing their hand in the current wave of student protests.
A student in the northeastern city of Lens lost his hand after reportedly picking up a grenade earlier this month, prompting the temporary suspension of one type of stun grenade by police. That ban, which still allowed police to use several different grenades, has now been rescinded.
Overall, authorities said that the “vast majority of individuals” had demonstrated peacefully on Saturday, according to BFMTV.
Police officers charge at demonstrators at Place de la Republique in Paris on Saturday, October 17, 2026.Geoffroy Van Der Hasselt/AFP/Getty Images
General view of the Place de la Republique as protesters walk through tear gas during a demonstration at the Place de la Republique in Paris on Saturday, October 17, 2026.Jack Taylor/Reuters
Posting on X, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, leader of the far-left La France Insoumise Party, emphasized that the majority of demonstrators on Sunday had made their point peacefully. “While news channels are flooded with images of violence in dozens of cities, everything is unfolding peacefully with tens of thousands of people calmly mobilized. Two worlds, two realities.”
Masked protesters raise their arms as they face off with French riot police during a demonstration in a street near the Gare du Nord train station in Paris on Saturday, October 17, 2026.Abdul Saboor/Reuters
Youth activists also led solidarity protests in Belgium, Albania and Italy, where police arrested more than 70 people for identification in the city of Milan on Sunday, according to CNN affiliate SkyTG24.
Reuters reported Sunday that police in Milan clashed with stone-throwing demonstrators for a second day, with law enforcement firing tear gas and water cannons in response. SkyTG24 shared video from a supermarket in Milan, showing the windows smashed out and merchandise scattered over the floor after looting.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni condemned the looting in a statement posted on social media, and said that she will convene a meeting in Rome on Monday to “evaluate further measures against those who exploit legitimate demonstrations to sow violence and chaos.”
The wave of protests in France has its roots in the country’s public school system. Earlier this fall, French high school students organized scattered protests demanding reduced class sizes, increased spending on teachers, investments in infrastructure designed to withstand the climate crisis and an end to police violence against young people.
In the past decade and a half, a rise in fertility coupled with funding cuts has led to more students, but fewer teachers in classrooms. The French Education Minister Edouard Geffray has met with student protesters multiple times in recent weeks, although an agreement is yet to be made.
This story has been updated with additional information.
CNN’s Eline Baudier Kim, Chandler Thornton, Sharon Braithwaite and Max Saltman contributed reporting.
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