Protests over living costs turn violent

Peaceful demonstrations over the cost of living devolved into chaos and violence across France on Saturday, with looting and fires reported in multiple cities.

Students joined by workers and activists

Students had protested underfunding in education for a month in over forty French cities. They were joined on Saturday by yellow vest activists and workers angry about fuel, groceries, and other necessities.

Turnout numbers disputed between officials

Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez said one hundred ten thousand protesters took to the streets in Paris and five hundred fifty thousand across France. The Confédération Générale du Travail estimated nearly eight hundred thousand nationwide.

Looters target mobile phones and luxury goods

Looting began around Place de la République in Paris, where young people smashed shop windows and took merchandise. An SFR mobile phone store and outlets selling luxury goods and clothing were hit.

Grocery chains ransacked across the capital

Franprix, Monoprix, Picard, and Carrefour City were looted in Paris. In the eleventh arrondissement, looters left a Franprix with bags of juice, alcohol, and cakes.

Shopkeeper describes destruction as apocalypse

Cédric, a shopkeeper near Place de la République for thirty years, barricaded himself inside his business. He told RTL radio that looters smashed windows, took glass to throw at police, and threatened violence.

“It's just the apocalypse.”

Looting spreads to eight other French cities

Looting took place in Marseille, Nice, Nantes, Bordeaux, Limoges, Lille, Toulouse and Strasbourg, where supermarkets, pharmacies, luxury boutiques, and electronics stores were raided and vandalized.

Limoges town hall burns, arrests mount nationwide

Videos showed the bell tower of Limoges city hall collapsing after protesters set fire to the ground floor.