Macron: There is no place for violence in France, and we will confront those spreading chaos

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Emmanuel Macron confirmed, on Saturday evening, that those who committed acts of “sabotage” and “looting” during the protests will be pursued and punished, stressing that the country will face united the spreaders of chaos who seek to undermine institutions.

“There is no place for violence in our republic,” the French president wrote on the

He added, "We will all stand united in the face of those spreading chaos, who only seek to overthrow our institutions, and we will stand in the face of those who express their demands in a peaceful manner."

The French Ministry of the Interior reported that about 550,000 demonstrated against the high cost of living in France, including 110,000 in Paris.

The decision of the Ministry of the Interior and the Police Directorate in Paris to prevent demonstrations and gatherings in the vicinity of major government headquarters such as the Elysee Palace, the Prime Minister’s Office, Place de la Concorde, Champs-Elysées Avenue, and other “sensitive” areas was of no use. The demonstrators succeeded in reaching the Champs-Élysées Avenue, where many shops anticipated their arrival by fortifying their glass facades, while some closed their doors for fear of looting, vandalism, and fires.

The Ministry of the Interior and the Security Forces had previously anticipated the “Mobilization Day,” which came to culminate in the movement of secondary school students to protest educational conditions, which began about a month ago and witnessed five mobilization stations. What is new about what happened on Saturday is that the interaction between the student movement and the protests that spread in most French cities over the high cost of living, the decline in purchasing power, especially for the lower classes, and the unprecedented rise in the prices of petroleum derivatives, which brought the “yellow vests” back to the streets and roundabouts and next to gasoline and diesel stations and so on.

It is noteworthy that the government preceded the mobilization day by warning against resorting to violence, and by highlighting its desire to be strict in treating those who disturbed the security, which was stressed by Interior Minister Laurent Nunez, who permitted a return to the use of sound bombs and other means to disperse the demonstrators.

A demonstrator lost his hand, on Saturday, as a result of the explosion of a bomb fired by security forces in the city of Saint-Etienne in central France, during widespread protests against the high costs of living and the deterioration of public services, which witnessed clashes with the police and the arrest of about 272 people.

Agence France-Presse reported from a source close to the file that the demonstrator suffered a severe injury that led to the amputation of his hand, in an incident that comes after a similar incident witnessed in the city of Lens in the north of the country in early October, during the student protests.

Several French cities, including Paris, Marseille, Rennes, Toulouse and Angers, witnessed confrontations between security forces and protesters, after tens of thousands took to the streets to denounce the rise in prices and the decline in living standards.

The French Ministry of the Interior announced the arrest of about 272 people in connection with acts of violence that included attempts to loot and set fire to public facilities and targeting government and media headquarters, holding elements of the “far left” responsible for the unrest.

In Lyon, demonstrators set fire to a tourism office, while the Marseille municipal building was vandalized, according to the mayor, who announced that security reinforcements were being sent to the city.

The unrest comes at a time when President Emmanuel Macron faces increasing political and economic pressure as the end of his term approaches, amid rising public debt and government borrowing costs.

On Friday, Macron called for calm, while fears are increasing that the scope of the protests will expand with participants from previous protest movements joining them.