France's President Emmanuel Macron has condemned the "failures in anticipation and intelligence" by French authorities, the Elysee Palace said Monday, after nationwide cost-of-living protests were marred by violence.
Despite the failures, Macron has refused the resignation of Interior Minister Laurent Nunez, the presidential palace added.
Macron and his government are under pressure from opposition politicians, who have called for Nunez to be removed, after mass rallies on Saturday over the rising cost of living and high fuel costs turned violent.
In some of the worst urban violence France has seen in years, nearly 2,400 people were arrested, while almost 1,000 police and gendarmes (French armed police) were injured, the Interior Ministry said Sunday.
Interior minister: Police 'lost control' of situation
Nunez on Monday admitted that police across the country had "lost control" of the situation over the weekend.
As tens of thousands of people took to streets across the country to protest rising costs and social inequality, crowds of mostly masked and mostly male youths clashed with police, looting shops and torching public and private property, including the historic Limoges city hall.
President Macron urges distinction between protesters and vandals
Nunez agreed with Macron over what he called authorities' "lack of anticipation," saying he tendered his resignation "because I felt responsible for everything that happened."
Macron has instructed Nunez to "take all necessary steps to ensure transparency over the failures in planning and intelligence that led to the violence," according to a statement from his office.
The president also ordered Nunez to "put in place new operational methods for security forces" to handle the crisis — and how to deal with violent looters — moving forward.
Violent unrest rocks France after nationwide protests
How many people turned up for France's protests, how many police?
This weekend's violence happened alongside mass nationwide protests over the rising cost of living and youth frustration over education.
Organizers, hoping to revive the momentum of the 2018-2019 "Yellow Vest" movement that challenged Macron during his first term, called the protests just six months before the country is set to elect his replacement.
This weekend's mobilization called on students, workers, retirees, farmers, climate activists and anti-fascists to take to the streets and voice their disatisfaction.
France's CGT union put nationwide turnout at 500,000.
Initially it was reported that only 10,000 police and gendarmes had been deployed nationwide, a figure that Interior Minister Nunez's office quickly corrected, saying that 60,000 had in fact been mobilized ahead of the protests, including 5,000 in Paris, amid fears that violence could spread.
For context, Paris deployed 14,000 police and gendarmes in Paris alone during a recent high-profile visit by Pope Leo XIV.
Edited by: Karl Sexton
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