Dramatic images from Paris, France, on Sunday captured the scale of the destruction after rioters defied President Emmanuel Macron’s appeals for calm and continued their violent rampage through the capital.
Rubbish covered streets while fires burned into the night, following another day of unrest that drew more than 500,000 people into the streets.
At least one vehicle was reduced to a charred shell. Videos circulating on social media also appeared to show masked individuals forcing their way into homes, while other groups targeted and looted local businesses.
In response, some shopkeepers have hired private security teams in an attempt to protect their properties from further attacks.
As violence spread, the French president vowed on Sunday to hold accountable those who had “sought to bring down the Republic.”
The unrest also spilled into Italy, where protesters were reportedly seen throwing bottles, ransacking shops and damaging property.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni called an emergency security meeting as authorities confronted scenes of disorder and looting reminiscent of the turmoil in Paris.
In the United States, officials condemned what they described as an organized “campaign to destroy Western civilization.”
A French firefighter responds to a street barricade in Paris amid violent protests on Sunday
Masked protesters were filmed breaking into local businesses on Sunday night
President Donald Trump blamed immigrants for the unrest in a post on Truth Social, writing: “France is burning!” Source: @realDonaldTrump/Truth Social
Writing on Truth Social, President Donald Trump blamed immigration for the violence and declared: “France is burning!”
“The immigration of people from an entirely different world, people with hatred in their hearts, has shattered that once great country,” Trump wrote Sunday morning.
“Close your Borders and take control, before it is too late!”
Several hours later, US Undersecretary of State Jacob Helberg characterized the unrest as a “resurgence of FAR-LEFT POLITICAL TERRORISM.”
“Secretary [of State Marco] Rubio presciently hosted a ministerial on this because this threat is transnational and organized in networks that cross borders, share resources, and coordinate violence,” Helberg wrote on X.
“Those who excuse, normalize and legitimize it deserve unequivocal condemnation. If you claim to stand for working people, STOP MAKING EXCUSES FOR THOSE WHO DESTROY EVERYTHING WORKING PEOPLE HAVE BUILT,” he added.
“Unlike their apologists, we believe destruction and chaos are NOT legitimate forms of political expression. Arson is not argument. Intimidation is not debate. Terror is not justice. And a campaign to destroy Western civilization is NOT a protest against the price of groceries. Every business burned is someone’s life’s work destroyed. Every neighborhood terrorized is a community robbed of peace,” he continued.
“Under President Trump and Secretary Rubio, we will never surrender American communities to organized political terror. We will dismantle terrorist networks that threaten our people, disrupt their financing, and bring their perpetrators to justice.”
“Our streets belong to our citizens. Our future belongs to our children. And this country belongs to the people who built it—not transnational mobs that seek to burn it down.”
A Parisian man is seen trying to extinguish a fire during clashes between protesters and police officers in the city
Photos from the city showed garbage strewn across the streets as fires continued to ravage overnight
The word ‘Antifa,’ which stands for ‘anti-fascist,’ was spray painted on top of a Paris map
But Democratic Congressman Ro Khanna, of California, shared his support for the protesters as he called for a new ‘New Deal.’
‘From the high schools of France to the streets of Madrid, to the universities of Tirana, young people are telling their governments the same thing: in an age of massive wealth inequality, they want a future they can believe in,’ he posted on X.
Khanna went on to claim that the protesters in France are ‘asking for safe schools, enough teachers and smaller classes’ before he hit out at Vice President JD Vance for blaming the protests on immigrants.
‘@JDVance says this is what happens when a nation lets in too many immigrants from the global south,’ he wrote.
‘He is not just morally wrong, but misreading the moment. [This] is what happens when nations let wealth and power accumulate in the hands of a few. This is what happens when young people lose hope in their future.
‘In America, let us listen to our young. We need an economic and political transformation – America’s Next New Deal.’
A fire is seen burning and destroying the city hall in Limoges after a group of individuals forced entry into the building during ongoing protest action against the ‘high cost of living’
People were seen passing next to the debris remaining on the street following the protests
The demonstrations were started by teachers and students a month ago in response to staff shortages and have grown into a wider movement against rising prices.
They have been joined by extremist politicians and activists such as Jean-Luc Melenchon, head of the hard-Left France Unbowed party.
Scenes from the weekend showed looters in France smashing their way into designer stores to steal luxury items amid the ‘unrestrained violence’.
Dozens of hooded young men were filmed swarming high-end outlets like Christian Dior and Louis Vuitton, leaving shelves of expensive jewelry and clothing entirely bare.
President Macron blamed ‘agitators from far-Left fringe groups, joined by numerous criminals’ for plunging his country into ‘unbridled violence.’
He made a plea ‘for unity’ following the weekend of chaos, which saw nearly 2,400 people arrested and almost 1,000 police and gendarmes injured – seven seriously.
Protesters in Milan, Italy were seen vandalizing a shop on Sunday
Clashes began in Milan on Saturday on the sidelines of a sanctioned cost-of-living demonstration
Police in Italy carried out a number of detentions and arrests as the protests spread
Clashes then began in Milan on Saturday on the sidelines of a sanctioned cost-of-living demonstration. Similar troubles took place in the northern cities of Bologna and Turin following other protests.
On Sunday, police used tear gas and water cannons to disperse groups in the Milan square and photographs showed young people, many wearing masks, throwing objects at police cars.
A supermarket on a shopping street leading off the Duomo plaza was ransacked, rubbish cans overturned and scooters and bicycles vandalized.
The mayor of Milan, Giuseppe Sala, said he had witnessed ‘smashed shop windows, looted stores, and frightened citizens’.
‘What happened here is what we are seeing in many cities around the world,’ he said.
‘I’m very worried because it’s a new phenomenon, which also originates from an international scenario and therefore feeds itself.’
Prime Minister Meloni on Saturday called the vandals ‘thugs who exploit demonstrations to spread chaos, attack those who guarantee security, and hold entire cities hostage.’
‘To demonstrate is a right. To lay our cities to waste is not,’ she wrote on X.
Government ministers joined Meloni in condemning the attacks. Matteo Salvini, head of the hard-Right League party and deputy prime minister, described the scenes as ‘urban warfare.’
Fires burned through the streets during the protests in Paris on Sunday
Protesters are pictured running as firefighters tried to extinguish the blazes they left behind
Demonstrators protest against housing shortage, soaring rents and low wages on Rossio square in central Lisbon
Portugal was also swept by the unrest, with demonstrators protesting against housing shortages, increasing rents and low wages over the weekend on Rossio Square in central Lisbon.
Banners held up by protesters demanded higher wages and pensions and focused on the rising cost of housing and fuel.
In a live TV address on Sunday night, Macron said: ‘Looking at these images, we have all asked ourselves how French people could do this to France.
‘Nothing justifies it, nothing explains it, nothing excuses it.
‘Those who looted will have to pay back for the damage, and those who sought to bring down the Republic will be held accountable.’
One of the most dramatic images was that of the historic clock tower of 140-year-old Limoges town hall crumbling in an inferno. On Sunday, the town’s mayor Guillaume Guerin took aim at extremists for ‘whipping the kids into a frenzy.’
He said: ‘Those who organize everything, who bring the battering rams, who smash the windows and identify the basement entrances in this town hall so they can get in – they are not the kids.
‘They are people who are organized to wage war.’ He added: ‘The logistics, the organization, the premeditation behind yesterday’s attack on the town hall is something I find unbearable.’
Another defining image came from Paris where a female protester tried to stop thugs looting a grocery store. Blocking them from entering through a smashed door, she pleaded: ‘Why are you doing this? Stop! This isn’t the cause!’ But the masked rioters smashed past her.
Stores selling trainers or smartphones were a particular target for the looters, many of whom travelled around on rental e-bikes.
‘It was apocalyptic,’ a police commander told Le Parisien newspaper. ‘Law enforcement was unable to contain the multitude of simultaneous attacks across the country.’
After Macron’s speech, rioters and looters returned to the streets of Paris, setting up barricades and engaging in running battles with police. ‘We are here because we want Macron to resign,’ one demonstrator said.
But despite the chaos, the NFL said it will move forward with its plan to hold a New Orleans Saints v Pittsburgh Steelers game in Paris next week.
A spokesperson for the league told Our News Outlet on Sunday that there has ‘been no disruption or impact at league sites’ due to the protests.
‘Preparations continue as scheduled for NFL events and the game at Stade de France next Sunday,’ said NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy. ‘We continue to work closely with local authorities and partners on all operational and security matters. We are also providing the two clubs with regular updates.’
Stade de France, the 80,000-seat stadium just north of Paris, has thus far been spared the ongoing chaos being seen in other parts of the country.
The Saints are now en route to the war-torn city, while the Steelers are planning to arrive on Friday.
