France rocked by nationwide clashes, blazes and looting

France woke up Sunday to devastated streets after clashes between police and protesters, mass looting and fires erupted nationwide as marches against rising costs of living degenerated into "extreme" violence.

The widespread unrest followed weeks of student protests and comes just six months ahead of elections to replace President Emmanuel Macron.

Whole streets in Paris "have been devastated," the city's mayor Emmanuel Gregoire said as groups of masked young men torched parked cars and ransacked shops.

French Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu, who had condemned the "extreme intensity" of the violence, said 1,200 people had been arrested and 150 police officers hurt.

It was "a miracle the toll isn't higher," he said.

The violence began on the sidelines of marches in the capital and other cities over the cost of living that the interior ministry said were attended by 550,000 people.

The CGT union, which took part, said 800,000 people participated.

Police used tear gas and water cannon against protesters who threw projectiles and aimed fireworks.

During and after those demonstrations, gangs of youths roamed city streets, sporadically confronting police, while setting fires and attacking shuttered stores to break in and empty their shelves.

Scores of shops -- supermarkets, pharmacies, luxury boutiques, clothing retailers, opticians, cosmetic vendors and consumer electronics stores -- were looted in Paris, Marseille, Nice, Nantes, Bordeaux, Limoges, Lille, Toulouse and Strasbourg.

The looting added to a day of destruction and vandalism, with town halls in several cities targeted.

The town hall in the city of Limoges -- more than 140 years old -- was largely destroyed by a blaze set by masked protesters who broke in, according to the region's top official. Two others were broken into and vandalised in Marseille and Lille.

A police compound in Bordeaux was also vandalised, while in Lyon protesters set ablaze a tourist office.

The violence has drawn global headlines -- in the United States, Vice President JD Vance blamed immigration for the unrest.

"Western liberals imported the third world into France and other countries in the name of diversity and compassion. They ignored fundamental questions of assimilation and compatibility," he said on X.

President Macron said that "those who carried out vandalism, attacked administrative offices or businesses, or carried out looting -- even in our town halls, will be prosecuted and punished."

AFP