French Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu said that far-left groups were behind the violence during Saturday's demonstrations, which he said had planned the attempted uprising in advance, Le Monde reports.
Also, speaking to the French National Assembly on Tuesday, he denied accusations that the police were engaging in political surveillance. Lecornu described the incident as "a riot scenario organized by far-left groups in isolated locations."
He stressed that the French authorities would not allow radical groups to move towards the official residences of the French president and prime minister. Furthermore, French premier denied allegations that law enforcement agencies were conducting political surveillance.
Such accusations were previously made in an article published by the online newspaper Mediapart, which was later shared by the left-wing France Insubordinate (LFI) party. “That is not true,” Lecornu said, adding that it was impossible to even imagine that the French government could have given such instructions.