Only shattered glass and the skeletal frame of the Haussmannian roof remain of Limoges’s 19th-century town hall.The town was among the places hit hardest by the rioting and looting that erupted across France over the weekend, leaving the country reeling from its worst violence in years.The towering spire at the heart of Limoges ultimately collapsed in flames, drawing cheers from the crowd below that were captured on video.
In Paris, the Louvre Museum said it was closed after protesters announced their blockade of the iconic tourist site.Authorities conceded they had “lost control” in major cities, and said Monday they had asked some cities to impose a curfew in a bid to restore order.The unrest came on the heels of an anti-government movement that had seen days of largely peaceful protests over rising living costs and poor school conditions.On the weekend, this unrest descended into violence on the streets of cities across France: rioters, often hooded and masked, looted stores and torched cars and government buildings as they faced off with the police.
A protestor holds a sign reading "Generation 6-7 redoes May 68" in front of a fire at the Boulevard des Capucines in Paris on Saturday.Kiran Ridley / AFP via GettyMore than half a million people took part in the protests across France, according to the interior ministry, and nearly 2,400 people were arrested.Almost 1,000 police officers and firefighters were injured, it added.Macron blamed “troublemakers from far-left fringe groups” for the violence.“Watching these images, we all wondered how French people could do this to France,” he said in a televised address on Sunday.
“Nothing justifies it, nothing explains it, nothing excuses it.”Macron added that “those who sought to bring down the Republic will be held accountable.”Macron’s centrist administration, in its final months of power, has been consumed by a mounting sense of crisis that could pave the way for the far-right to take power ne...