France was reeling on Sunday from widespread damage caused by violent protests the day before that saw 1,800 people arrested, a historic town hall torched and widespread looting.
“It’s like we had a war,” a 78-year-old resident in central Paris, Mehmet Ozeden, told AFP amid burnt street barricades from the protests.
The convulsion raised the stakes for President Emmanuel Macron, who is in his final months in power before elections to replace him in six months’ time. It followed weeks of student protests that had also turned violent at times.
Macron will address the nation Sunday evening, his office said.
Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said 1,800 people were arrested, with investigations under way “to identify the perpetrators of these acts so they can be brought to justice.”
In Paris, where police said a record 855 people were arrested, torched cars, smashed shopfronts and burnt debris scarred numerous streets.
The capital experienced “a level of violence that we have never, I believe, seen before,” said Paris deputy mayor Lamia El Aaraje.
