France protests latest: Macron says ‘we all feel anger and shame’ after ‘unknown violence’ prompts 2,000 arrests

Fresh clashes broke out in Paris on Sunday, a day after France suffered one of its worst days of unrest in years.

The police fired tear gas at the protesters again in the Place de la République and bicycles were set on fire on Sunday afternoon, a sign that the tensions in the capital have not completely subsided.

Protests over high prices left one demonstrator dead, thousands arrested and businesses looted or damaged across the country on Saturday.

Far-left leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon, who joined the Paris march, accused Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu of “playing with fire” and claimed that “by banking on degradation, you have only succeeded in uniting all the youth and workers’ unions.”

Mr. Mélenchon insisted that “my message is clear: those who share our struggle have no business with looting or destruction.”

In his final months as President of the French Republic, Emmanuel Macron looks more than ever a man who has lost control of events, lost touch with the nation he leads, and lost the confidence of international investors with it.

Instead of delivering, say, a televised interview or a personal speech, President Macron, so inappropriately aloof, initially chose to respond to the protests that broke out over the weekend in France, disturbances, violence and hundreds of arrests in a rather short statement on X: “Those who participated in the vandalism, attacked in prefectures and buildings, and engaged in the city, including in the hall. Justice brought be and be punished.”

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Paris Mayor Emmanuel Grégoire announced the creation of an emergency unit to support businesses in assessing the damage.

“The scale of the damage is considerable and unprecedented,” Mr. Grégoire wrote in an open letter.

“Paris is a city of freedoms, debates and demonstrations. It must remain so. But it must also be a city where everyone can safely work and run a business.”

Police said groups of hundreds of people staged an unauthorized march across central Paris on Saturday.

“In the late afternoon, a new phase began with the arrival of large numbers of people whose sole objective was to steal and loot, taking advantage of the unrest,” said the police.

In Marseille, 107 policemen were injured, including three “seriously”, according to one of the prefects of the region.

“In addition to the acts of looting and violence that the city of Marseille reported today, 107 police officers were injured, three of them very seriously,” said Jacques Witkowski, the prefect of Bouches-du-Rhône, according to Le Parisien.

He added: “I respectfully thank the lawyers who were mobilized on the front lines all day and who are still holding out. I wish the wounded men and women a speedy recovery.”

A rope shed in the central French city of Limoges collapsed after it was set on fire on Saturday.

Dramatic footage shows the moment the roof of the historic building caved in as it was engulfed in flames.

“The roof has collapsed on the lower floors, except in the west wing, and two-thirds of the facade has already disappeared,” state representative Maurice Barate said according to Le Parisian.

Mr Barate described it as a “heritage disaster” and a “deliberate act of vandals.”

Local authorities have advised residents to avoid the area for safety reasons.

Elsewhere, police in Albania said 388 people had been charged with criminal offenses as widespread protests took place in the capital, Tirana.

Prime Minister Edi Rama on Sunday rejected calls to back down from growing street protests, saying they were a threat not to his government but to Albania’s progress toward joining the European Union.

Student-led demonstrations, fueled by anger over perceived government corruption, a lack of jobs and poor education standards, have engulfed central Tirana and spread to other cities in the past week.

Protesters calling for Rama’s resignation set fire to government buildings as well as banks and dragged pavements to throw at police, who responded with tear gas, water cannons and rubber bullets.

The unrest, which followed months of largely peaceful protests over the summer against a luxury coastal development championed by US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, poses the biggest challenge yet to Rama, who has ruled since 2013 and won a fourth term last year.

“I am not challenged, the government is not challenged, a government majority or a winning party in the elections is not challenged, but a path is challenged, a mission is challenged,” Rama said in a live address on Facebook.