Protesters blocked the entrance to the Louvre Museum in Paris on Monday as French authorities scrambled to contain public anger over the rising cost of living, following mass demonstrations that descended into some of the worst street violence in recent years over the weekend, news agency AFP reported.
French President Emmanuel Macron ordered a security review after Interior Minister Laurent Nunez admitted that the police “had lost control” during the weekend’s unrest.
Undeterred by the government’s response, the Yellow Vests movement, which organised the weekend’s rallies, called for another round of protests on Saturday.
Italy, Spain and Portugal, where anger over rising prices has also triggered demonstrations, were closely monitoring developments after clashes broke out in Milan over the weekend and protests over housing costs continued in Spanish cities.
Around half a million people took to the streets across France to protest the surging cost of living, marking the culmination of four weeks of demonstrations that began with high school students demanding better conditions at their schools.
What began as peaceful demonstrations turned violent in several places, with masked groups on the sidelines attacking law enforcement personnel, breaking into town halls and other public buildings and setting many of them ablaze. Shops were looted, while cars, bicycles and scooters were set on fire on the streets.
Nunez offered to resign on Monday after more than 2,500 people were arrested and nearly 1,000 members of the security forces were injured. Protesters were also hurt, with one demonstrator losing a hand after being struck by a police crowd-control grenade.
“On Saturday, in some major cities, you couldn’t look shopkeepers in the eye after hundreds of shops had been looted and tell them we hadn’t lost control,” Nunez said.
Macron refused to accept Nunez’s resignation, even as he acknowledged security and intelligence failures in the government’s response, despite the deployment of around 60,000 law enforcement personnel across the country on Saturday.
More than 2,330 people were taken into police custody nationwide over the weekend, 70 per cent of them adults, Justice Minister Gerald Darmanin said on Monday.
More than 2,000 shops were expected to have been affected by the weekend’s violence across France, with the damage running into “hundreds of millions of euros”, according to Alain Di Crescenzo, president of the chamber of commerce.
In an address to the nation on Sunday evening, Macron condemned the “unbridled” violence and said local authorities would be able to ban certain rallies in the coming days “if necessary”.
However, he stopped short of announcing drastic measures such as a state of emergency or a curfew.
Authorities in Marseille announced on Monday that public gatherings would be banned in the city from noon to 8 pm local time.
Louvre blocked amid continuing public anger
Public discontent showed no signs of subsiding on Monday, as demonstrators blocked the entrance to the iconic Louvre Museum in Paris, the world’s most visited museum.
“We are proud to announce that we are blocking the world’s largest museum,” read a leaflet posted outside the museum. The museum’s management and unions said the protest was led by students from Ecole du Louvre.
Rising prices have fuelled public anger in France, where diesel prices have increased by nearly 40 per cent and petrol prices by 25 per cent since March. Food prices have also risen by 25 per cent since 2021.
Protests add to political tensions ahead of elections
The unrest has intensified just months before a key presidential election, in which centrist Macron cannot stand for another term and far-right presidential candidate Marine Le Pen of the National Rally party is riding high in opinion polls.
Ministers have blamed “ultra-left” groups for the violence, while Le Pen alleged that the party of her far-left presidential rival, Jean-Luc Melenchon, had “legitimised the violence”.
The left has accused Macron of ignoring protesters’ demands, while the right has called on him to take a tougher stance.
Cost-of-living protests spread across Europe
With the cost of living rising across Europe, smaller demonstrations have also broken out in other countries.
During the weekend, clashes erupted on the sidelines of a cost-of-living demonstration in Milan. The city’s mayor, Giuseppe Sala, expressed concern over the violence.
“I’m very worried because it’s a new phenomenon, which also originates from an international scenario and therefore feeds itself,” he said.
In Spain, hundreds of tents have occupied Madrid’s central Puerta del Sol square since September, when the eviction of an 87-year-old woman from her lifelong flat triggered nationwide protests in a country grappling with soaring housing costs.
Dozens of tents have also appeared in the Portuguese cities of Lisbon and Porto, where protesters are demanding action to address rising housing costs.
(With AFP inputs)
