'Like we had a war': France left reeling after nationwide violent protests

France was reeling on Sunday from widespread damage caused by violent protests the day before that saw 1,800 people arrested, a historic town hall torched and widespread looting.

"It's like we had a war," a 78-year-old resident in central Paris, Mehmet Ozeden, said amid burnt street barricades from the protests.

Read moreFires and clashes rock France amid massive nationwide protests

The convulsion raised the stakes for President Emmanuel Macron, who is serving his final months in power before elections to replace him in six months' time. It followed weeks of student protests that had also turned violent at times.

Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez said 1,800 people were arrested over the protests and looting, with investigations under way "to identify the perpetrators of these acts so they can be brought to justice".

Torched cars, smashed shopfronts and burnt debris scarred numerous streets in Paris, where officials said 557 people were in custody after a "record" number of arrests.

The capital experienced "a level of violence that we have never, I believe, seen before", said Paris deputy mayor Lamia El Aaraje.

Hundreds of shops were looted in Paris and other cities, including Marseille, Bordeaux, Nice and Strasbourg, during the protests over the cost of living.

One person died during the main march in Paris, but officials said it was health-related and not linked to the protest violence.

Around 1,500 businesses were damaged, causing losses estimated in the hundreds of millions of euros, according to the Retail and Trade Federation.

One Paris resident, Anita Gras, who was out for a jog between the debris, said she saw young men loot a sports shoe retailer.

"They stayed until 1:00am, we were afraid they were going to throw things at us," she said.

"It's appalling, terrifying – groups of young people came here yesterday (Saturday), looting, smashing everything, with total impunity," said another resident, 57-year-old Cecile Rogue, surveying a pile of charred bicycles.

'Wild horde'

The city of Limoges lost its 19th-century town hall to a fire. The local prefect, Maurice Barate, told news channel LCI it had been set deliberately by "a wild horde" and was only brought under control early Sunday.

The mayor of Lyon, Gregory Doucet, said "the chaos that reigned in the city for several hours was abominable".

A tourist office in the centre of Lyon was set ablaze during the protests, which saw multiple clashes and looting.

Political recriminations have followed, with the government and far-right leader Marine Le Pen blaming ultra-left groups, while far-left leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon accused authorities of inflaming tensions.

Paris's Socialist deputy mayor El Aaraje accused Le Pen's party of "acting like a pyromaniac firefighter", using the protests to further her presidential ambitions.

US Vice President JD Vance also waded in, implying on X that the unrest was because France had "imported the third world".

French Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu was to chair a crisis meeting of ministers at 08:00 GMT on Monday, his office said. They were to look at the insurance and help for impacted shops as well as the prosecution of perpetrators of the violence.

Half a million demonstrators

In Paris, startled tourists were seen Saturday running with suitcases along streets filled with tear gas and protesters.

A Danish tourist, Soren Petersen, said it was "sad" to see damage to Paris buildings. "It is not a protest, it's far beyond a normal protest," he told AFP.

An American tourist, Jill Burns, said "we were scared".

Around 500 police, firefighters and paramedics were hurt in the protests, the interior minister said.

The violence took place on the sidelines of nationwide protests that the interior ministry said were attended by 550,000 people. The CGT union said 800,000 people participated.

A 17-year-old boy had his right hand blown off by a crowd-control grenade in the southern city of Saint-Étienne.

Analyst Mujtaba Rahman of the Eurasia Group think tank said on X that most of the demonstrations Saturday were peaceful, and "the violence came from a fringe of the ultra left" with looting "by opportunistic gangs from the poor suburbs".

"All good news for Marine Le Pen," he said.

France's Yellow Vest movement, which staged street protests eight years ago against Macron's government over planned fuel-tax hikes, had called Saturday's "yellow and youth" demonstrations.

The principal grievance was the cost of living, pushed up in part by the war in the Middle East, which has helped send inflation soaring in Europe as elsewhere.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP)