By Max Butterworth and Roisín Savage
Widespread violence erupted across France over the weekend, as rioters and looters ransacked storefronts, clashed with police and set fire to municipal buildings.
Nearly 2,400 people were arrested and almost 1,000 police officers and firefighters were injured, the French Interior Ministry said, after some of the worst unrest the country has seen in years.
In cities across the country, demonstrators set fire to newsstands and smashed windows. The violence followed weeks of largely peaceful protests over the cost of living and school conditions that expanded with an attempt to revive the “yellow vest” movement Saturday.
In Limoges, a town in central France, dramatic scenes emerged overnight Saturday as rioters broke into the historic town hall and set it ablaze.
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Aerial images the following morning revealed the smoldering remains of the 19th century building, which had survived two world wars, capping one of the most violent days in France’s recent history.
Across the country in Lyon, southeastern France, an elderly man wearing a gas mask fled from tear gas at the Place des Terreaux on Saturday.
Crowds massed along the narrow streets of Paris throughout the weekend as masked demonstrators set up burning barricades near Place de la Republique, a major intersection through the city.
Striking scenes of disorder emerged from the French capital, including the monument at Place de la Republique where masked demonstrators burned flares and waved flags on Saturday.
Nearby, a man with a crucifix bearing the message “Love will triumph” rested near a burning vehicle in central Paris.
French President Emmanuel Macron on Sunday vowed legal action against those responsible for the violence. “Those who sought to bring down the Republic will be held accountable,” he said.