PARIS — A wave of mass protests over soaring living costs and deteriorating educational conditions erupted into violent riots and rampant looting across France, leaving major downtown commercial districts devastated and a historic city hall in ruins.

The worst street violence seen in years comes just six months ahead of France's presidential election, plunging the nation’s political landscape into intense infighting and blame-shifting.

In a televised address to the nation from the Élysée Palace on Tuesday, French President Emmanuel Macron condemned the chaos. “We all feel a sense of anger and shame,” Macron said. “Order and peace must be maintained, and the situation must not be allowed to escalate.”

Emphasizing that “nothing can justify this violence,” Macron warned, “Those who looted will pay the price, and those who tried to destroy the Republic will be held accountable.” He also instructed Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu to convene student and union representatives alongside lawmakers to formulate emergency measures, while announcing plans to seek oil price cuts during his upcoming trip to the Gulf region.

The crisis began last month as student demonstrations demanding increased education funding, but quickly snowballed on the 17th when labor unions and citizens reeling from inflation joined the movement. According to interior ministry estimates, some 550,000 people took to the streets—with the General Confederation of Labour (CGT) putting the figure as high as 800,000. The turnout dwarfed intelligence estimates of 100,000 by more than fivefold.

Behind the backdrop of peaceful marches, masked rioters dressed in black ran amok, turning city centers into war zones. In Limoges, a central city renowned for its porcelain, a crowd of 3,000 stormed the area, setting fire to the 143-year-old neo-Renaissance city hall, which eventually collapsed. Luxury flagship stores, including Hermès and Louis Vuitton, were ransacked in Marseille and Bordeaux, while some 50 Carrefour hypermarkets were targeted.

Alexandre Bompard, president of the French Retail Federation (FCD), estimated that around 1,500 stores nationwide suffered looting and property damage, with restoration costs running into hundreds of millions of dollars. Over two days of unrest, approximately 1,000 police officers and firefighters were injured, and nearly 2,400 people were arrested.

Political finger-pointing over intelligence and security failures has intensified. Prime Minister Lecornu pointed the finger at Jean-Luc Mélenchon, leader of the leftist La France Insoumise (LFI) party and a presidential hopeful, accusing radical leftist forces of orchestrating the unrest.

“There is clearly a political battle behind all of this that must be paid for,” Lecornu said, warning that the country had reached “the point of no return.” Addressing Mélenchon directly, he added, “You cannot offer excuses to those committing violence while demanding that the violence stop. This is your political responsibility.”

Mélenchon fired back, claiming Lecornu was responsible for “a carefully orchestrated chaos born of incompetence,” and accusing the government of using the unrest to mask its fiscal failures. Meanwhile, Marine Le Pen, leader of the far-right National Rally (RN) and a frontrunner in early presidential polls, stated, “We are experiencing a severe crisis of trust and authority that threatens our democracy,” targeting both the radical left and the government.

Experts warn that the riots, compounded by alleged police preparation failures, will deal a severe blow to the Macron administration. Sébastien Roche, a policing expert at the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS), told the Financial Times that if march routes are agreed upon only the night before, police cannot be deployed effectively. “Intelligence gathering may have been flawed from the start, and the interior ministry appears to have failed to adequately consider or interpret it,” Roche noted.

Macron’s approval ratings have already plummeted to around 15%, their lowest level since he took office in 2017. Compounding the issue, massive structural budget deficits exceeding 5% of GDP leave the government with little room to appease the public through increased spending.

Bruno Cautrès, a political scientist at Sciences Po, told the FT that the public explosion of anger evokes memories of the darkest days of the "Yellow Vests" movement, marking a clear before-and-after moment. “These apocalyptic scenes gave the impression that the state no longer holds control, and that is a significant experience that could influence how people vote,” he said.

[ⓒ Global Economic Times. 무단전재-재배포 금지]