Nationwide protests in France on Saturday left more than 600 police and
firefighters injured and over 2,000 people detained, officials said. The unrest
occurred during a political transition six months before the presidential
election and the incumbent government said its strained public finances limit
its ability to address the grievances that sparked the protests. President
Macron condemned the violence in a televised address but did not outline
concrete measures. Prime Minister Lecornu said the rioters were tightly
organized far-left groups seeking to influence next spring’s vote. Far-left
leader and presidential candidate Jean-Luc Mélenchon accused the government’s
policing strategy of “opening the door to chaos,” while far-right frontrunner
Marine Le Pen called Macron “powerless,” blaming an alliance of politics
radicals and what she termed suburban lawbreakers.
