Paris protests: A look at the aftermath

Our top story here in France, rioting broke out in cities across the country after largely peaceful demonstrations against rising costs and declining public services turned violent overnight. Prime Minister Sébastien Le Cornu said more than 1,800 people had been arrested nationwide in the unrest and that 150 police officers had been hurt during the protests. He condemned the unacceptable levels of violence. The interior minister said some 550,000 people took to the streets across the country, including 110,000 in Paris, as the recent student-led protest widened out to include trade unions and the Yellow Vest movement. Let's listen now to what the prime minister and the mayor of Paris have been saying. All day long, fellow citizens faced a violent extreme left, a highly organized network that sought to attack property, people and the institutions of the republic. Clearly, the centers of power in Paris were targeted, the Elysee Palace, Matignon and the National Assembly. So this is clearly a political maneuver that accepts violence. And as I said earlier, and I will say it again, we will not be intimidated. Entire streets were ravaged. What isn't up to standard is setting fire to a business with people living above it. It's not normal to smash public equipment or burning down shops with employees who will report for technical unemployment on Monday morning because their workspace has been destroyed. We can cross now to France 24's Antonia Kerrigan, who's standing by for us in the capital. So, Antonia, you're back at République. That was where you covered the demonstrations for us yesterday. Remind us of what happened and what you saw. Well, of course, yesterday was a long day. 110,000 people were in the streets here in Paris. That's possibly a conservative estimate as well as that's the estimate given by authorities and often organizers give higher numbers so it was an enormous mobilization first and foremost and what I should tell you is that of course here 24 hours ago what was happening is that essentially protesters were kettled into the square and tear gas was being used in high quantities we saw initial damage to public property at that time we saw there were two small fires that broke out but once the protests started slightly delayed due to all the tension with police, the use of stun grenades, etc., everyone moved on and started walking the few kilometers northwest towards Place de la République, which was the arrival point for the protests. And what we're now coming to understand is what happened after the main protest, the main march left here, was a huge amount of damage to public but also private property. We understand that, of course, those who came in and inflicted this damage, It seemed to continue late into the night and even a lot of it began late into the night after the official protest, if you will, had ended. We know that here at Place de la République, on arrival, bags were searched. You couldn't enter the area if you had equipment for breaking, for damaging property. However, as the day wore on, seemingly people came along at the end of the protest. After the main march had moved off, you had people, perhaps some of them infiltrated, perhaps in those crowds, although certainly you couldn't bring hammers, etc., to Place de la République. So people joined later and they circled back to République where they inflicted this enormous damage. We understand that happened late into the night. We understand also from eyewitnesses who were there who saw it playing out that there was not a single police officer there as this was going on. And of course, we have to imagine that the model behind, the thinking behind all of this damage, there must have been an element of knowing that the law enforcement were occupied elsewhere. And so in their absence, as protests moved on, that's when this enormous damage occurred. You can see this enormous heap of detritus behind me. And that's just the tip of the iceberg. When you look at shops in the area, you also see burned vehicles. We've seen a clear clean-up has begun, but it's going to be a long way ahead. We know that 1,500 businesses across France were affected, and the bill for all that damage is estimated in the hundreds of millions of euros by an official from a representative union of shop owners who's given that estimate. So it will be a long road to clear up after this, and it's only just begun. Now, Antonia, when we spoke yesterday, you said that over in the area there was a heavy police presence. Is there still a police presence outside and around where you are? Today, no, there isn't a significant police presence, notably. Life seems to have gone almost back to normal, although that won't be the case for the business owners in the area. But, of course, everyone's stopping and taking photos of what they see, as the damage is fairly spectacular. My colleagues actually, with my colleagues, we spoke to a business owner in the neighbourhood who runs a glasses shop. He sells glasses, an optician's shop, if you will. And he said that the damage continued late into the night and even that there were different groups that came and went. And so his shop was attacked multiple times. A neighbouring restaurant came along during the course of the evening as he saw what was happening and boarded up his shop only to find that those who were committing these acts of violence on these private properties came along, ripped off the boards he had put up on his shop in order to start all over again and take what there was to take. So it seems we don't know. Obviously, we'll be waiting to see to what extent this was organised, to what extent this was planned, and exactly who were the perpetrators. because certainly there were suddenly tens of thousands of people who had an extremely peaceful protest yesterday, who at the end of the protest, you know, at the time when we know that people were pillaging the shops in the République neighbourhood, we know that elsewhere they were putting music on loudspeakers and dancing. So we know that there were these very, very different atmospheres in different parts of town. And we know that certainly where I was at that time, where I saw people putting on music and dancing and, you know, young people having these Japanese aura battles. We know that there was a large police presence in those locations. So, seemingly, it created something of a golden opportunity for those who wanted to inflict damage and for those who wanted to steal, perhaps to steal objects of value, steal to sell on, etc. We know that there must have been this window of opportunity while law enforcement were occupied elsewhere. where here today, life has gone back to normal. Although, as I say, it won't go back to normal for some time for those who have seen serious damage to their properties, to their shops, to their businesses. Antonia, thank you so much for keeping us updated. That's France 24's Antonia Kerrigan over there in République. Now we can bring back Shirley Sitbon from our news desk. Great to see you again, Shirley. So as we've been discussing, I mean, these have been a lot of very distressing images that we've been seeing. I think the scope of the violence is shocking a lot of people. Numbers of arrests increased. The government's been telling us a bit more. So what's being said? Where do we stand at this point? Well, we're still counting the cost of what will happen. I mean, Antonio just talked about this. And we've seen yesterday various types of targets in these protests. Of course, we have to say again that the vast majority of protesters marched peacefully with obvious goals and demands. They want the cost of living to be reduced. They want to be able to make a living and live comfortably and learn, for those of them who are students, have teachers. So that's most people who marched yesterday. But there were also people who broke some in a sign of protest to defy authorities, and they tried to go towards areas that were strategic. We can see some of the sites which were targeted yesterday, yesterday and today. So in all of these cities, in Marseille, in Lyon, in Limoges, we have that. You saw these images of the city hall being targeted and also, and that is the situation today. All of these areas, that's one type of target. And police throughout the day tried to keep the protesters away from sites that were strategic or very symbolic. The presidential palace, for example, and they did not anticipate everything that happened. The other type of target, of course, are the businesses, which were also massively looted and people are devastated by the loss of business owners today. And many people who see the places they go to every day being damaged. So what did they miss and why did they miss it? First of all, the number of people out yesterday in all of France. Authorities say that people are supposed to declare, legally to declare protests, and most of them did not declare. Most protests were not declared. Like, for example, in Lyon, no protest was declared, but there were many people out in the streets. Also, the type of the number of groups who were more violent, the hours in which they acted and their methods, they split into various groups. So police couldn't really stop them from damaging various institutions, various stores, businesses, buildings, bus stations, things like that. And the question is why? Why was that missed? And that's actually the question that's being asked today. And police has people on the ground to try and infiltrate these groups, try and understand what's planned. um and there was some kind of failure was the failure on the ground was the the information not analyzed well not passed on to authorities uh well enough uh those questions are being asked and some people actually wonder whether some of this was perhaps even deliberate let's listen that sounds like a conspiracy but that's what the mayor of Marseille was saying this morning as he went back into the city like other mayors, trying to understand why his city was vandalized in such a massive way. Let's listen to him. I don't want to controversy, but from what I understand, some people had information about some of the violence that was coming. We had 80 anti-riot police officers for a city that is five times larger than Lyon, more than twice the size of Paris. The minister will be here tomorrow. And a police union, one official, one representative said also this morning that they were completely overwhelmed and that they did not have enough ammunition. Meanwhile, people on the left side of the political spectrum and not only also on other sides were wondering if the police tactics, the police were there, was right. Because sometimes using tear gas, as Antonia described earlier, when the protesters were not necessarily violent, well, that can generate sometimes chaos. So there are a lot of questions today. And all of this happening ahead of presidential elections that are going to be held here early next year, so politicians eager to weigh in. Marine Le Pen has been commenting, hasn't she? Yes, yes. Looking at those images, she had a message yesterday to French voters directly saying that they should vote for her because when she comes to power, there'll be, first of all, no reason to protest because she'll bring down the cost of living, she'll bring up subsidies, and at the same time, she'll bring some order into the budget. And at the same time, she and the police forces and security forces in general will tackle all of these people, all of these rioters, and bring some order into the country. That's what she had to say yesterday, accusing the left of being in favor of the chaos. Of course, on the left side of the political scene, people said that this was also being used. The fact that the left is encouraging peaceful protests to demand more social justice. Well, this is being used just for political reasons and with false accusations saying that the left is trying to stoke and to encourage violence. Well, the left says that that's unfair to say that that's a political attack. Meanwhile, they said that other parties are also trying using this just for political gains. And so everybody is accusing everyone. Meanwhile, the center was also is also using this, although they're shocked by the event. Those who are in power today, the government. But still, they're saying, imagine voters, imagine what tomorrow will look like. If Marine Le Pen comes to power, then there'll be even more anger. How many people will then come out and try to break everything in the country? That's what they're saying. And meanwhile, if Jean-Luc Mélenchon comes to power on the left hand, well, this will encourage rioters who are all from the left, they say. Obviously, we don't know who all the rioters are. Not very clear. They had masks on. People obviously trying to bring chaos. Meanwhile, next to them, also the looters. Very massive looting yesterday. not for political reasons, but for stealing, and also this generates chaos. Meanwhile, of course, the demands and the requests, which are all considered legitimate by politicians, well, they have not received responses, anything new to help people who have been protesting for such a long time. Many years, a similar protest, not as violent as yesterday, but the same requests and still no answers. Right, that violence overshadowing those demands. Shirley, thank you so much. That's Shirley Sitbon from our news desk.