French mayors ask people to gather outside town halls today to ‘unite against violence’ after weekend riots

Mayors across France are inviting people to gather in front of their local town halls from midday (October 19) to show solidarity following widespread riots this weekend. 

The Association of French Mayors (AMF) called for these gatherings as several French cities saw violence, looting and the burning of public buildings on Saturday night (October 17), after more than half a million people were said to have participated in largely peaceful demonstrations across France earlier that day.

Multiple town halls were the targets of vandalism. In Paris’ 10th arrondissement, rioters broke into the mairie, while in Limoges (Haute-Vienne) the mairie was set on fire. There were no casualties, but the listed historic building suffered considerable damage with the roof and bell tower collapsing.

Further smaller-scale riots and looting took place in Lyon and Nantes on Sunday (October 18), while in Paris there were reports of police charges as well as use of tear gas and stun grenades in various parts of the city centre, with increased police presence around Châtelet-Les Halles.

“It is not only public institutions that are under attack, but - far more seriously - the civil liberties of all French people,” stated the AMF. 

The organisation added that it “utterly condemns these acts of aggression and vandalism, the violence of which has crossed an unacceptable threshold, while the demonstrations themselves respected public order.” 

President Macron’s national address 

President Emmanuel Macron addressed the nation from the Élysée Palace on Sunday in a televised speech watched by an average of some 16.7 million viewers across various channels.

The President called for “calm and respect” and said "nothing justifies" the scenes of "unbridled" and “unprecedented” violence.

Over 2,000 people were arrested and almost 1,000 police officers, gendarmes and firefighters were reported injured following Saturday’s riots, according to Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez.

France's Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu plans to hold a crisis meeting today (October 19) in response to these events.

President Macron also highlighted the importance of distinguishing between "those who destroyed, ransacked and looted" and demonstrators’ "legitimate demands."

The October 17 demonstrations were organised around rising living costs and fuel prices together with deteriorating public services, and brought together several groups including students, trade unions and former gilets jaunes protesters.

The gilets jaunes group is pushing for demonstrations to continue, calling for an “acte 2” this coming Saturday (October 24). 

On the website 17octobregiletjaune.net, the group has posted a map of rallies with almost 100 actions already scheduled at the time of writing.

Interior minister offers resignation

Laurent Nuñez submitted his resignation to President Macron on Sunday. However, it was rejected.  

“I offered my resignation because I am responsible for everything that is happening,” Mr Nuñez told France Inter this morning.

President Macron refused the request and instead asked Mr Nuñez to implement a new policing strategy “to deal with rioters”.

Mr Nuñez said that “everything will be done to ensure this does not happen again.

“We clearly need to do a better job of anticipating the scale of demonstrations as they unfold.”

Mr Nuñez described “losing control” of the situation in certain French cities on Saturday and said that there will be a “stepping up” of intervention strategies against rioters so that the police can be “mobile and responsive.”

Justice Minister Gérald Darmanin was interviewed on France 2 regarding Mr Nuñez’s response to the violence following the October 17 demonstrations. 

“We have, without a doubt, failed,” said Mr Darmanin.

“We need to find out what went wrong,” he added.