French police “lost control” during nationwide protests marred by violence over the weekend, the Interior Minister admitted Monday (October 19, 2026), with President Emmanuel Macron calling for a security review.
France protests: Police arrest 1,800 after violent clashes and looting mar protests
Mr. Macron also refused Interior Minister Laurent Nunez’s resignation even as he acknowledged security and intelligence failures in the government response.
Saturday’s (October 17, 2026) demonstrations saw some half a million people turn out across France to protest the cost of living, but morphed into some of the worst violence to rock the country in years, with town halls and shops looted and set ablaze.
More than 2,500 people were arrested, while almost 1,000 members of the security forces were injured. Injuries were also reported among protesters, with one demonstrator’s hand blown off by a police crowd-control grenade.
“On Saturday [October 17, 2026], in some major cities, you couldn’t look shopkeepers in the eye after hundreds of shops had been looted and tell them we hadn’t lost control,” Mr. Nunez said.
Mr. Nunez acknowledged a “lack of anticipation” in the deployment of security forces on Saturday (October 17, 2026), whose numbers were insufficient to deal with the large crowds of rioters and looters on the fringes of the demonstrations.
He estimated that some 60,000 law enforcement personnel had been deployed across the country that day.
“Given the damage that has been caused, it was only right that I should hand in my resignation,” Mr. Nunez said.
The presidency said in a statement that Mr. Macron had rejected the resignation, however, citing “the necessity for continued leadership of law enforcement”.
Instead, Mr. Macron ordered Nunez to “take all necessary steps to ensure transparency over the failures in planning and intelligence that led to the violence”.
To end the “barricades and looting, he also requested that the interior minister promptly implement new operational methods for security forces to use on the ground in combating rioters,” the statement added.
Looting continued on Sunday (October 18, 2026), with Paris Mayor Emmanuel Gregoire saying Monday (October 19, 2026) that around 30 shops had been targeted in the capital the previous day, describing the scenes as “unbearable”.
Mr. Nunez said some 350 people had been arrested in Paris on Sunday (October 18, 2026) and overnight.
Nationwide, more than 2,330 people were taken into police custody over the weekend, 70% of whom were adults, Justice Minister Gerald Darmanin said on Monday (October 19, 2026).
More than 2,000 shops were expected to have been affected by the weekend’s violence across France, with damage running into “hundreds of millions of euros”, according to chamber of commerce president Alain Di Crescenzo.
In an address to the nation Sunday (October 18, 2026) evening, Mr. Macron slammed the “unbridled” violence and said local authorities would be able to ban — “if necessary” — certain rallies in coming days.
But he stopped short of announcing drastic measures, such as a state of emergency or curfew.
Saturday’s (October 17, 2026) protests followed four weeks of high school student protests that at times also turned violent.
Published – October 19, 2026 02:55 pm IST
