Although 60,000 police and security personnel were mobilized, order could not be restored in certain cities.
French conservative activist Thaïs d’Escufon stated that “what started as student protests, mainly led by the far left, has turned into ethnic riots that are spiraling out of control. Immigrants have become the street-level enforcers of the far left, spreading chaos, looting, vandalizing, stealing, and setting things on fire.”
The unrest began as mid-September “protests” in migrant-heavy suburbs over public high school education and escalated rapidly. French Interior Minister Laurent Nunez resigned Saturday, stating he was “responsible for everything that is happening.”
President Emmanuel Macron addressed the violence Sunday: “Seditionists from far-left fringe groups, joined by many criminals, engaged in unbridled violence in our cities. Shops were looted. Public buildings, stores, and town halls were attacked, and some were destroyed.”
French authorities reported 550,000 demonstrations across France on Saturday, injuring over 500 police officers, paramedics, and firefighters. Approximately 1,500 stores were looted and ransacked nationwide, with around 1,800 radicals arrested.
U.S. President Donald Trump described the crisis as “France is burning! The immigration of people from an entirely different world, people with hatred in their hearts, has shattered that once great country.” Vice President JD Vance added: “Western liberals imported the third world into France and other countries in the name of diversity and compassion.”
Rioters set ablaze Limoges’ 143-year-old town hall and targeted other historic sites.
