France’s interior minister Laurent Nuñez has acknowledged that security forces lost control in some major cities during violent protests over the state of education and the cost of living on Saturday, recognising that police had failed to anticipate the scale of the unrest.
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“I have handed in my resignation because I am responsible for everything that happens,” Nuñez said Monday on France Inter public radio, after France saw one of the worst episodes of urban unrest in its history.
Nearly 2,400 people were arrested on Saturday during nationwide protests and about 1,000 police and gendarmes injured. More than 1,500 shops were looted and public buildings torched.
Nuñez acknowledged that the police deployment had been too small to deal with the numbers of people involved in the looting and vandalism.
President Emmanuel Macron said he'd rejected Nunez' resignation and asked him to remain in post to maintain the chain of command within the police and security forces and to introduce new measures to tackle looting.
In a televised address on Sunday evening, Macron blamed far-left extremists and delinquants for what he called “unbridled violence”.
'Never seen anything like it': mass looting grips Paris
Calls for tougher action
Dozens of people have been remanded in custody, Justice Minister Gérald Darmanin told France 2 television on Monday.
“There were 2,331 people taken into police custody over the weekend, 70 per cent of whom are adults, very often known to the police”, Darmanin said, adding that "more than 80 per cent” of them are facing prosecution.
He said France's security services were very good at dealing with terrorism and organised crime but less effective in tackling far-left protesters.
“Clearly, it is not tackling the far-left effectively,” he said.
“We have undoubtedly failed,” he admitted.
Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu will hold a crisis cabinet meeting Monday to assess the violence and looting.
Paris police in new battles with protesters and looters
Businesses count the cost
More than 2,000 businesses are expected to have been affected by the bout of urban violence, with damage running into hundreds of millions of euros, said Alain Di Crescenzo, head of the country’s network of chambers of commerce and industry.
An initial estimate on Sunday put the number of affected businesses at 1,500, but Di Crescenzo said the figure was expected to rise as reports from more towns came in. Violence continued overnight in Paris, Marseille, Lyon and Nantes.
In Paris, at least 30 shops were looted again on Sunday and overnight, the capital’s mayor, Emmanuel Grégoire, said, describing "unbearable scenes".
Paris public prosecutor Laure Beccuau said investigators were examining evidence from security cameras, shop surveillance systems and social media.
Police have established a task force to review footage and witness reports. Beccuau urged businesses affected by the violence to preserve any evidence, including abandoned objects and traces of blood.
Commerce Minister Serge Papin is due to meet representatives of retailers, small businesses, restaurants, hotels, banks and insurers on Monday to discuss the damage.
National mobilisation
The protests were called over the rising cost of living. The appeal, which began on social media, was also taken up by student unions who've been campaigning for better teaching conditions since mid-September, as well as by trade unions.
The interior ministry estimated that 550,000 people took part nationwide, including 110,000 in Paris. The left-wing CGT trade union put the national figure at 800,000.
Most demonstrations passed without incident, but they turned violent after groups of black-clad, masked activists known as "black blocs", along with young vandals, took part.
(with newswires)