# Macron condemns 'unbridled violence' as France reels from riots > Days of unrest across French cities leave 2,400 arrested, shops destroyed and public buildings burned as government faces pressure over its response. - Title: Macron condemns 'unbridled violence' as France reels from… - Summary: Days of unrest across French cities leave 2,400 arrested, shops destroyed and public buildings burned as government faces pressure over its response… - Keywords: emmanuel macron, france, riots, paris, laurent nuñez, violence, protests, looting, limoges, marseille, lyon, news - Source: the Guardian — https://theguardian.com/world/2026/oct/18/french-government-crisis-talks-violent-unrest-policing-macron - Published: 2026-10-18T18:57:48+00:00 - Read time: 3 min - Topics: emmanuel macron, france, riots, paris, laurent nuñez, violence, protests, looting, limoges, marseille, lyon, news ## Macron condemns 'unbridled violence' French president Emmanuel Macron criticised unbridled violence after one of the most violent days of unrest in years left public buildings burned, hundreds of shops destroyed and looted and at least two thousand four hundred… > Watching these images, we have all asked ourselves how could French people do this to France? ## Macron distinguishes protesters from rioters Macron said nothing justifies violence and drew a distinction between genuine peaceful demonstrators making demands over cost of living and education, and others who destroy, ransack and loot. > nothing justifies ## Macron blames 'factious groups from the ultra-left' The president criticised what he called factious groups from the ultra-left, joined by numerous delinquents, as separate from those protesting over legitimate grievances. > factious groups from the ultra-left, joined by numerous delinquents ## Interior minister's resignation refused Interior minister Laurent Nuñez submitted his resignation on Sunday, but president Macron refused it, saying continued leadership of law enforcement was necessary at this time. > Given the necessity for continued leadership of law enforcement at this time, the president refused. ## Macron demands transparency on failures Macron asked Nuñez to take all necessary steps to ensure transparency over failures in planning and intelligence that led to the violence and put in place new operational methods for security forces. ## Saturday began with peaceful marches Tens of thousands of peaceful protesters attended calm marches through major cities including Paris, supporting schoolchildren's demands for more teachers and repairs to decrepit schools after four weeks of street marches and barricades. ## Violence erupted separately from protests Different groups caught police by surprise with moving gatherings, sporadic burning, barricading of streets and clashes with police in Paris, Bordeaux, Nice and Marseille, separate from the peaceful demonstrations. ## Masked looters exploited the chaos Masked looters took advantage of what French media called the chaos on the streets to smash shopfronts and grab goods, with groups including children seen running through Paris at night with clothes and shoeboxes. ## Paris saw record arrests and destruction In Paris, police said a record eight hundred fifty five people had been arrested. The Socialist deputy mayor Lamia El Aaraje said the capital had experienced a level of violence never seen before. > a level of violence that we have never seen before, I believe ## Limoges mayor calls it 'colossal failure' In Limoges, the nineteen-century town hall was burned down. Mayor Guillaume Guérin said rioters were organised for war, not demonstrators defending causes, and called the state's response a colossal failure. > a colossal failure of the state ## Marseille mayor describes 'hordes of rioters' In Marseille, masked groups stormed the city hall and a police station. Socialist mayor Benoît Payan told BFMTV that hordes of rioters and looters attacked state buildings with no real demands, wrecking the cause of… > Hordes of rioters and looters attacked our common [state] buildings … with no real demands, but with the sole aim to wreck the demands of those who had demonstrated legitimately. ## Traders report over one thousand five hundred shops ransacked Traders' unions said more than one thousand five hundred shops and businesses had been ransacked, with the cost running into tens of millions of euros. Shop owners said they had never seen anything like it. > This had nothing to do with the peaceful protesters. These were organised groups who were breaking things and looting. We'd never seen anything like it. ## Nearly one thousand police and gendarmes injured The interior ministry said there had been nearly two thousand four hundred arrests and almost one thousand police and gendarmes injured on Saturday, seven seriously. ## Key takeaway Emmanuel Macron condemned violence that left two thousand four hundred arrested and hundreds of shops destroyed across France, while refusing to accept his interior minister's resignation.