French President Emmanuel Macron rejected the resignation of Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez on Monday after another night of rioting and looting in Paris, as the number of arrests across France climbed past 2,500 and authorities acknowledged serious failures in their preparations for the unrest.
The Élysée Palace said Macron had refused Nuñez's offer to step down because the minister needed to remain in office to maintain continuity of command within the police and security forces. The decision followed mounting pressure from both the left and right over the authorities' handling of widespread violence that erupted on the sidelines of mass demonstrations against the rising cost of living and deteriorating public services.
Looting in France: Micromania video game store employee kicked in the back while trying to protect the shop
Police said approximately 350 people had been arrested Sunday evening and overnight, some on suspicion of looting and others for additional offenses. The latest detentions brought the total since the weekend to more than 2,500. According to official figures, 997 security personnel were injured during the unrest, seven of them seriously, along with numerous protesters and rioters.
In its statement Monday morning, the Élysée acknowledged what Macron described as failures of preparation and intelligence ahead of the violence. The president instructed Nuñez to develop new approaches as quickly as possible to confront looters and violent rioters.
Nuñez also admitted shortcomings in the security response, saying that although the government had deployed 60,000 police officers to the streets, security forces had been overwhelmed in certain areas.
Gallery
Rioters set equipment ablaze on the streets of Paris on Saturday
(Photo: REUTERS/Jack Taylor)
(Photo: REUTERS/Jack Taylor)
"There was an imbalance in some areas, and we lost control of them," Nuñez said when asked whether authorities had correctly anticipated the scale of the disturbances.
"I acknowledge my share of responsibility, but we must not forget that there were looters, vandals and far-left activists," he added. Nuñez was expected to visit the southern city of Marseille later Monday, where widespread destruction and looting also occurred over the weekend.
Justice Minister Gérald Darmanin said the unrest had exposed weaknesses in the security services' ability to respond to violent far-left groups. He argued that French security forces were effective in combating terrorism and organized crime but less capable of handling threats posed by radical left-wing demonstrators.
Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu was expected to convene an interministerial crisis task force Monday morning, focusing on three areas: the economic and commercial consequences of the violence, insurance claims and criminal proceedings against those responsible.
Lecornu told French media that most of those arrested in Paris over the weekend were not individuals with extensive previous records known to police. "We will ensure that these acts receive the criminal response their seriousness warrants," he said.
The association representing French mayors also called on residents to gather outside their local town halls Monday afternoon to condemn what it described as serious attacks on democratic institutions.
‘Those who destroyed must pay’
Macron's decision to keep Nuñez in office came hours after the French president addressed the nation Sunday evening, following a weekend in which masked rioters attacked police officers and passersby, set government buildings ablaze and looted hundreds of businesses.
In his televised speech, Macron accused violent groups of attempting to undermine the French Republic but urged the public to distinguish between the hundreds of thousands of people who had taken to the streets to voice legitimate grievances and those responsible for the destruction.
Police use batons and tear gas to confront rioters over the weekend
(Photo: REUTERS/Stephane Mahe )
French President Emmanuel Macron addresses the nation Sunday evening following the riots
(Photo: Ludovic MARIN / AFP)
He specifically condemned what he called unrestrained violence by radical far-left groups joined by numerous criminals.
"We all feel anger and shame tonight," Macron said, referring to the images of destruction across the country. "Those who destroyed must pay, and those who looted must compensate."
The president also announced that regional prefects would receive powers to prohibit certain gatherings when necessary to maintain public order. The measure stopped short of a nationwide state of emergency, despite growing criticism that the government had failed to respond forcefully enough to the violence.
The speech came as French media reported renewed looting in Paris. Broadcaster BFMTV aired footage Sunday evening showing several people smashing the storefront of a Petite Mendigote shop before entering and ransacking the premises.
According to Le Parisien, young men with uncovered faces were filmed walking through the streets carrying sweaters apparently taken from stores. Clashes continued shortly before Macron's address, with police using tear gas and stun grenades along Boulevard Voltaire and near Place de la République.
A Le Parisien reporter described groups of young people gathering in the area, including one person who could be heard shouting, "Come on, guys, let's loot something."
Paris riots
(Photo: AP Photo/Emma Da Silva)
Paris
(Photo: Amélie BARON / AFP)
As the violence spread, the mayor of central Paris urged shop owners to close their businesses to protect themselves from further vandalism and arson, particularly around the Les Halles shopping district.
In Lyon, approximately 50 young people, many wearing masks, attempted to smash the window of a Lacoste store, but police intervened before they could enter and dispersed the group using tear gas.
A historic town hall destroyed, hundreds of businesses damaged
The latest disturbances followed Saturday's nationwide demonstrations against rising living costs, worsening public services and higher fuel prices, which drew hundreds of thousands of people into the streets.
Although the demonstrations began as protests over economic conditions and education, violence erupted in several cities as masked groups clashed with security forces, vandalized public buildings and looted stores.
(Photo: Carl Court/Getty Images)
(Photo: REUTERS/Abdul Saboor)
Among the most dramatic incidents was the destruction of the historic city hall in Limoges, central France, where masked rioters set fire to the 19th-century building.
The ornate structure, inaugurated in 1883 and having survived both world wars, was devastated by the blaze. Much of its roof collapsed, and its clock tower came crashing down in footage widely circulated on social media. Authorities said the building had been largely destroyed.
In Marseille, Lille, Angers and Bordeaux, rioters attacked municipal buildings and regional government offices, causing extensive damage. In Lyon, the city's tourist office was set ablaze, with footage showing one of the rioters waving a Palestinian flag.
The French Chamber of Commerce estimated that at least 1,500 businesses had been affected by the unrest, with damage running into hundreds of millions of euros.
The weekend's violence also intensified scrutiny of the government's handling of a broader protest movement that began several weeks earlier among high school students in poorer suburbs north of Paris. Those demonstrations, sparked by teacher shortages and deteriorating conditions in schools, had already led to repeated confrontations with police and inspired related protests elsewhere in Europe, including Belgium.
Students, labor unions and members of the Yellow Vest movement, which emerged in 2018 in opposition to Macron's economic policies, joined Saturday's nationwide mobilization.
Macron, whose second and final presidential term ends in May 2027, had largely responded to the demonstrations in recent weeks with statements acknowledging protesters' frustrations while condemning violence. Critics accused his administration of failing to take sufficient preventive action as the disturbances escalated.
Far-left groups, meanwhile, accused police of using excessive force against demonstrators, adding to the pressure on the government from both sides of the political spectrum.
Le Pen attacks Macron: ‘A government without direction’
The president's handling of the crisis drew fierce criticism from opposition politicians, including far-right National Rally leader Marine Le Pen, who accused his administration of losing its authority.
Le Pen said Macron's government was exhausted, disoriented and apparently incapable of doing anything beyond acknowledging its own inability to govern effectively. She accused the administration of condemning events without being able to prevent, control or manage them.
Jordan Bardella, president of Le Pen's National Rally party, dismissed Macron's televised address as a "pathetic speech."
"This cowardly and directionless government has nothing left to say to the French people and nothing left to offer them," Bardella said.
Jordan Bardella, president of France's National Rally party
(Photo: Jean-Francois Badias, File)
Macron meets senior ministers for an emergency meeting at the Élysée Palace
(Photo: Ludovic MARIN / POOL / AFP)
The political confrontation comes as France prepares for its next presidential election in 2027, in which Macron is constitutionally barred from seeking another consecutive term.
The unrest has also drawn attention from US President Donald Trump, who has repeatedly attributed France's social tensions to immigration and Islam.
About two weeks earlier, amid protests over education and public services, Trump wrote on Truth Social that the demonstrations were not really about schools but reflected what he described as mass immigration spiraling out of control. He claimed that Islam was seeking to take over a country that had once been great.
Following the weekend violence, Trump issued another statement, declaring, "France is burning!" He blamed immigration for the country's troubles and urged French authorities to close their borders and restore control before it was too late.
Macron's government now faces the challenge of restoring order while responding to the economic and social grievances that brought hundreds of thousands of demonstrators onto the streets. With the opposition intensifying its attacks and the scale of the destruction still being assessed, the president's refusal to accept Nuñez's resignation has left the interior minister responsible for repairing a security response that both men acknowledge failed.