Macron addresses nation after France reels from one of its worst days of unrest in years

By Joseph Ataman, Catherine Nicholls, Sana Noor Haq, James Legge, CNN

(CNN) — France’s President Emmanuel Macron is addressing the nation on Sunday evening as communities reeled from one of the most violent nights of unrest in recent years after largely peaceful anti-government protests descended into rioting, leaving government buildings torched, one police officer and one protester dead.

A 22-year-old police officer died after being “struck by a third-party vehicle” in the city of Nantes, about 250 miles southwest of Paris, France’s Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said.

One protester died just north of Paris following a “cardiorespiratory arrest,” CNN affiliate BFMTV reported on Sunday, citing the Paris Police headquarters.

Police have detained more than 2,000 people, Nunez said, adding that more than 600 police officers were injured.

Scenes unfolded again on Sunday of police officers launching tear gas into the hallowed Place de la République, where dozens of people gathered in response to messages on social media to “continue the movement,” BFMTV reported. In the central city of Limoges, the 143-year-old town hall was set ablaze on Saturday, with video showing its spire collapsing. In Marseille, masked protesters dressed all in black broke into city hall and defaced the building, and in Lyon, protesters torched the city’s tourist office.

Lawmakers and regional officials launched mounting criticism over the government’s law enforcement plan, BFMTV said, with French Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu set to meet the mayors of Paris, Lyon and Marseille, who called for greater reinforcement to repair the damage.

As night fell in Paris on Saturday, groups of young people looted shops and started fires as protests wound down, prompting police to respond with tear gas and baton charges in the narrow streets. Alexandre Bompard, CEO of retail giant Carrefour, said in a social media post Sunday that around 1,500 stores across the country were affected by violence.

More than 600 police officers have been injured, France’s Interior Minister Laurent Nunez posted on X on Sunday, warning that “nothing can justify” the unrest. Earlier this weekend, Lecornu also condemned “unacceptable levels of violence.”

The destruction followed what had been largely peaceful protests, which have grown out of sweeping student-led rallies that gripped parts of France last month, sparking a broader movement against crumbling schools, the spiking cost of living, and perceived government inaction. The rallies have become emblematic of long-simmering, intergenerational anger among people who say their calls for social and political change are going unmet by negligent governments.

Some 550,000 protesters hit the streets across France, including 110,000 in Paris, Nunez said on Saturday. Organizers said far more people turned out.

“There’s an accumulation of wealth and power that’s completely out of control,” one protester, who gave her name as Pauline, told CNN in Paris on Saturday.

“We’re also here to support the youth. There are victories, but if we look at the bigger picture, it’s not going in the right direction,” the 36-year-old added.

Another demonstrator complained of “less democracy” and a “concentration of power” under Macron’s leadership. “There are billionaires who control the media,” Louise, 38, told CNN. “We are fighting to change things.”

Macron slammed “sowers of chaos” for interfering with peaceful protests, and warned late on Saturday that “those who have broken, attacked (police) prefectures, as well as businesses, looted even our town halls, will be prosecuted and punished.”

“We do not back down in the face of rioters and those who’ve come to attack law enforcement,” said the Paris Police Prefecture – the body that oversees the Paris Police Force, emergency services and various other administrative departments – adding that its staffers stood “their ground with courage and professionalism.”

‘Two worlds, two realities’

The police response to the weeks of protest has come under scrutiny. Earlier in the week, that response had left a 14-year-old boy with a fractured jaw. Another police officer was captured on camera using a headlock on a girl in the northwestern area of Alençon, an action now prohibited by law.

A protester in the city of Saint-Étienne, about 40 miles southwest of Lyon, lost his hand during a march there on Saturday, a police source told BFMTV.

This is the second reported instance of a demonstrator losing their hand in the current wave of student protests.

A student in the northeastern city of Lens lost his hand after reportedly picking up a grenade earlier this month, prompting the temporary suspension of one type of stun grenade by police. That ban, which still allowed police to use several different grenades, has now been rescinded.

Overall, authorities said that the “vast majority of individuals” had demonstrated peacefully on Saturday, according to BFMTV.

Posting on X, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, leader of the far-left La France Insoumise Party, emphasized that the majority of demonstrators on Sunday had made their point peacefully. “While news channels are flooded with images of violence in dozens of cities, everything is unfolding peacefully with tens of thousands of people calmly mobilized. Two worlds, two realities.”

Youth activists also led solidarity protests in Belgium, Albania and Italy, where police arrested more than 70 people for identification in the city of Milan on Sunday, according to CNN affiliate SkyTG24.

Earlier this fall, high school students in France organized scattered protests demanding reduced class sizes, increased spending on teachers, investments in infrastructure designed to withstand the climate crisis and an end to police violence against young people.

In the past decade and a half, a rise in fertility coupled with funding cuts has led to more students, but fewer teachers in classrooms. The French Education Minister Edouard Geffray has met with student protesters multiple times in recent weeks, although an agreement is yet to be made.

This story has been updated with additional information.

The-CNN-Wire
™ & © 2026 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.

CNN’s Eline Baudier Kim, Chandler Thornton and Sharon Braithwaite contributed reporting.