France's government faced a political crisis on Monday after a weekend of nationwide violence that left more than 1,500 shops looted and destroyed, with police acknowledging they lost control of several cities.
Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu convened an emergency cabinet meeting as Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez attempted to resign over the unpreparedness. President Emmanuel Macron rejected the resignation and instead tasked Nuñez with improving street safety and prosecuting those responsible for the violence.
Saturday's events escalated from half a million largely peaceful protesters demonstrating against rising living costs and deteriorating public services, including education. Masked vandals and activist groups subsequently appeared, triggering riot police response that included tear gas, water cannons and baton strikes. France's interior ministry reported approximately 1,000 police officers injured, seven seriously.
Nuñez faced accusations from political opponents and unions of insufficient preparation and police deployment ahead of the scheduled demonstrations. Parliament's lower house president Yaël Braun-Pivet announced plans to open an inquiry into what occurred.
Macron delivered a televised national address Sunday calling for unity and promising accountability, but French media criticized the speech for lacking specific solutions on key questions. How will vandals face prosecution? How will destroyed businesses receive compensation? When will dialogue occur with students and teachers about education, the protests' original trigger?
The violence compounds France's political instability. Parliament remains deeply fractured between three competing political blocs. A presidential election scheduled in six months features nationalist right candidate Marine Le Pen and anti-capitalist left leader Jean-Luc Melenchon both competing for headlines. Macron faces widespread perception as a lame-duck president.
CGT union Secretary General Sophie Binet accused Macron of failing to address student concerns, the cost-of-living crisis or declining public service quality. Left-wing Melenchon blamed government "incompetence," while Le Pen posted a presidential-style video calling Macron's administration "out of steam, exhausted, and disoriented."
France confronts a deeper fiscal crisis. Investors pressure the government to control spiralling public debt, yet officials fear that cutting public services or welfare will trigger larger street demonstrations.
Further large-scale protests are scheduled for November 5, when trade unions and the "yellow jacket" movement from Macron's first term plan demonstrations. A student half-term break offers authorities a two-week reprieve.