Hundreds arrested in violent protests across France as buildings burned and looted | BBC News

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There have been violent anti-government protests in towns and cities across France all day with shops, businesses, and public buildings vandalized, looted, and set on fire. The interior minister said more than half a million people had taken part, angry

about the cost of living and other issues. The trouble is still going on tonight in many areas. About 400 people have been arrested in all. President Macron condemned the violence across the country, promising to prosecute and punish those

responsible. The biggest protests were in Paris, where more than 100,000 people took to the streets. The mayor of Leyon said the burning of the city's tourism office was a tragedy. Civic buildings were targeted in many cities. In Limoge,

city hall has been badly damaged by fire. And in Marseilles, the town hall was breached and vandalized by protesters. Our correspondent James Waterhouse is in Paris tonight. James. Jane. Tonight, Paris has descended into chaos after the remaining what

you felt genuine protesters started to disperse when riot police used familiar tactics of tear gas and and water cannons. Uh what the authorities say is that once again a minority have looked to capitalize on the disorder we are

seeing through every district we tried to travel through in central Paris. There are burning barricades. There is widespread looting. We've seen glasses being smashed in. We had to abandon the taxi we were in because uh we weren't allowed

to continue our journeys. It is a story right across the capital tonight and once again it's in danger of eclipsing the very real concerns uh many French people have that we've heard about today. It's been a day of

demonstrations that has left its mark. It's been a day when presidential pleas for calm were ignored by an opportunistic minority. Entire districts descended into a state of lawlessness as people sought to loot, destroy, and barricade. The situation is

deteriorating pretty quickly. This is a departure from the protests we saw earlier in the day. It is still a minority of people that go out to cause trouble, but they disproportionately cause quite a lot of disruption and damage.

There are barricades in all four directions. What is also different from the preceding protests is the lack of police control. Because earlier familiar tactics of tear gas and water cannons did contain, although also antagonized, tens of thousands of

demonstrators as grievances converged in the capital and across France. They include high costs of living, fuel prices, and the erosion of public services, a collective criticism of a centrist government struggling to find answers. I'm here because my my

uh children are here also and they make a democratical manifestation and we have the police who attack us permanently. Is not the country is not anymore democratic. It's gone bad. You try to change something and you're repressed. There's

so much police so much violence. French people cannot live properly. uh everything like you know concerning cars and like the gas oil and stuff. It's so pricey and French people cannot leave even even with two incomes in one

single home. Over in Lyon, the site of its tourism office burning set the tone earlier. Town halls in several cities were also stormed including in Marseilles to the fury of local officials. Riers are not protesters, says the local

mayor. And frankly, I want the riers in prison. I want to know what's going on. The genuine protestations by the many have been eclipsed by the chaos and carnage that have surrounded them. For France, this is a perilous

moment, but whether it's a turning point will be determined in the presidential elections in 6 months time. The question of how France grapples with its massive costly public debt will eventually need to be answered and whatever taxes are

raised or whatever spending is cut, it will alter the political course of this country as well as its citizens. James, thanks so much for now. James Waterhouse there in Paris and our Europe editor Katia Adler is here. So

much violence today in France. Weeks of protests, demonstrations in other countries too. This is a real challenge for governments. That's true. But if we look at France first of all, I mean, is this military power, our neighbor across

the channel, the second largest economy in the Euro zone, really burning? I mean, yes, but also no. Hundreds of thousands of people demonstrated peacefully today. I was in Paris last week with students. Angry, yes, violent, no. There were

definite troublemakers amongst the crowds today. We heard there from James, but also allegations like from the French prime minister that there is a manipulation going on of real public anger ahead of those very fraught presidential elections this year.

But yet it's not just France, Albania, I mean the capital there, Toronto, the fifth day of violence, mainly students. But again, it's cost of living. There's allegations of corruption, demands for the prime minister there to turn down. In

Italy today, Bologna, Milan, violent demonstrations again, mainly students again. Italy heads to a general election next year. So does Spain. We saw those uh demonstrations in Spain earlier this month over the cost of living. Again, a general election

coming up and similar scenes in Greece and Belgium last week as well. So what does this mean? It means Europe is divided. It looks politically volatile. And who's watching Jane? Vladimir Putin and detractors like him delighted that voters

and politicians are distracted. Whereas Vladimir Zalinski, the president of Ukraine, is praying that all of these domestic wos in Europe mean that we won't forget his country.