Paris, Oct 18 (EFE).- French authorities have arrested around 2,000 people in connection with violence during nationwide protests, marred by clashes, attacks on public buildings and looting, Interior Minister Laurent Núñez said Sunday.
The figure, which remains provisional, was published by Núñez on X. He blamed the violence on “several thousand far-left individuals determined to attack our public buildings and our law enforcement agencies.”
He said they were joined by “criminals who vandalized and looted numerous shops in several cities in France.”
Núñez also reported that 600 police officers, gendarmes, and firefighters had been injured, adding that this figure was provisional as well.
The minister described the material damage as “considerable,” saying several hundred businesses had been targeted.
The Federation of Commerce and Distribution warned that the damage could run into “hundreds of millions of euros” and estimated that 1,500 shops had been vandalized.
Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu, who has called on prosecutors to seek pretrial detention for those arrested, is due to chair an interministerial crisis meeting on Sunday afternoon to address the fallout from the protests.
President Emmanuel Macron is also scheduled to address the country in a televised speech on Sunday.
On Saturday, as the scale of the violence became apparent, he condemned the behaviour, saying it had no place in France, and promised sanctions against those responsible for vandalism and looting.
Macron also expressed support for law enforcement agencies in a message posted on social media.
According to the Interior Ministry, 550,000 people took part in demonstrations across France. Organisers put the nationwide turnout at more than 800,000.
In Paris, the march from Place de la République to Place de Clichy drew 110,000 people, according to the government.
Marine Tondelier, leader of the Ecologists, called for Núñez to resign in a post on X on Sunday, arguing that the interior minister had underestimated the scale of the protests and was “clearly overwhelmed by the situation.”
Until the eve of the demonstrations, the Interior Ministry had forecast that up to 150,000 people would take part. EFE
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