At the historic Place de la République in Paris on Saturday afternoon, I watched a car being set on fire, stun grenades shot into the crowd and shopfronts being smashed.
The protest at this public square, a popular meeting point for gatherings and rallies, gradually descended into chaos after rounds of teargas were fired into the crowds, sparking battles between police and demonstrators.
Buildings were set alight in the French capital, police and protesters were injured and one demonstrator died from a cardiac arrest during the most intense riots since 2023, when violence erupted after the killing of an Arab teenager.
The extraordinary scenes of violence were replicated across the nation over the weekend, with dramatic video showing the clock tower at Limoges town hall in the south west of France engulfed in flames before collapsing on Saturday night after an apparent arson attack. Protesters forced their way into the town hall in Marseille, and far-right identitarian activists attacked peaceful trade unionists in Rouen.
The majority of the protests were peaceful, but some were met with a heavy-handed police response that provoked conflict, while members of “Black Bloc” anarchist groups also worsened the mayhem by joining the demonstrations with the intention of fighting police. Around 1,800 people were arrested across France in Saturday’s rallies.
The protests, attended by between 550,000 and 800,000 people, mark an escalating crisis for the Macron government, and for the inheritors of President Emmanuel Macron’s politics in the French centre, who are struggling to distinguish themselves amid increased polarisation.
Demonstrators in cities across France included students, trade unions and cost of living protesters, with many joining the marches in Paris because of police violence that unfolded at high school protests over lack of resources in schools.
“Salaries haven’t followed inflation, and the prices rise, whether that’s food or rent, which has completely exploded,” a protester who only gave his first name, Thomas, told The i Paper on Paris’s Boulevard De Magenta.
Thomas is part of the Yellow Vest (gilets jaunes) movement, named after the hi-vis vests French drivers have to carry in their vehicles and worn by protesters, which is focused on the cost of living and fuel prices.
“For a lot of people, rent takes up half their salary, it’s completely insane,” he added. “We are constantly being asked to pay higher prices at the supermarket, at the pump and for electricity […] and they’ve abandoned public services like education.”
Students are protesting for more money in schools, which are lacking teachers and SEND provision or in a state of disrepair, as well as over alleged bias against students from poorer areas.
Rajah, also wearing a yellow vest, said she was at the protest in Paris with her two high school-aged children to “protect them” after instances such as a case in the university town of Tours, where a 16-year-old boy was shot in the eye with a rubber bullet by police, blinding him. “I’m here in a yellow vest because my purchasing power particularly concerning petrol is too low and my children are here for the school protests, so we are two generations protesting for our conditions,” she said.
Petrol hit a record high price last month, reaching €2.4 a litre in France.
The shocking scenes of unrest in France underline the deeply polarised political situation faced by our closest neighbour, and offer a warning for Britain over the grave challenges posed by the cost of living crisis, international disorder and an increasingly powerful far right in Europe.
Macron’s government is currently trying to pass an austerity budget that includes €54bn-worth of cuts, with the stated aim of reducing France’s deficit, which is currently 5.4 per cent of GDP.
His potential centrist successors in April’s presidential elections, Gabriel Attal and Edouard Philippe are struggling in their campaigns amid the crisis. Both served as prime minister under Macron, so are associated with the increasingly unpopular President in the eyes of many voters.
Anger over rising costs has strengthened both left-wing populist Jean-Luc Mélenchon and the far-right frontrunner, Marine Le Pen. The majority of polls now predict a runoff between Le Pen and Mélenchon, with Le Pen winning in the second round.
The National Rally presidential candidate has seized on the protests as a sign of France’s collapse, criticising looting and disorder by ultra-left black bloc and opportunistic “casseurs” (looters and vandals).
“Loot, ransack, destroy, attack law enforcement: the rioters have once again poisoned the October 17 demonstrations in defence of purchasing power,” Le Pen wrote on X. “Legitimate social demands have once again been held hostage by the far left”.
She added: “Faced with this incendiary strategy, the French people, who can no longer bear being caught between the austerity and fiscal hammering of those in power and the insurrectionary activists, must hold out for a few more months.
“We will free them from Macronist toxic policies and protect them from the violence of the far left.”
Mélenchon criticised instances of police violence, saying: “In Paris, the disorder is orchestrated by the police prefect who bans access to Place de la République by relentlessly gassing it. And yet, it’s the official and authorised starting point. The confrontation seems to be the goal of this ‘maintaining order’ strategy. Pathetic.”
Macron, for his part, called for prosecutions of vandals, stating: “There is no room for violence in our Republic. Those who have broken, attacked the prefectures as well as businesses, looted even our town halls, will be prosecuted and punished. To the law enforcement forces, guarantors of the right to demonstrate, I express the support of the Nation. We will all stand united against the sowers of chaos, who seek only to bring down our institutions and prevent those who peacefully express their demands from doing so.”
As France reels from the violence, it offers a lesson for the UK. Anger at the cost of living and the state of public services can spill over into fury in the street – creating openings for fringe parties and political gridlock in which nothing can be resolved.