PROTESTER DIES, NEARLY 1,800 ARRESTED, 500 POLICE OFFICERS INJURED

PARIS, OCTOBER 18 /SRNA-Reuters/ - One protester has died, nearly 1,800 people have been arrested, and more than 500 police officers have been injured across France during yesterday’s protests and the country’s worst unrest in several years, Interior Minister Sébastien Lecornu said.

The demonstrations escalated into riots, during which the town hall in Limoges was set on fire, shops were looted, and buildings were covered in graffiti, as violent groups clashed with police in cities across the country.

One protester died after suffering a heart attack during demonstrations in Paris, where police made a record 855 arrests.

More than half a million people joined protests in cities across the country, marking the convergence of a month-long student movement with broader public discontent over the rising cost of living and declining quality of public services.

While hundreds of thousands of people protested peacefully, violent fringe groups attacked public buildings, looted luxury boutiques and supermarkets, and attacked police vehicles and officers.

"There is no place for violence in our Republic. Those who looted, attacked prefectures and businesses, and even ransacked our town halls will be prosecuted and punished," French President Emmanuel Macron wrote on X.

A large-scale cleanup operation began in cities across the country, from Lille in the north to Marseille in the south, and from Strasbourg in the east to Bordeaux in the southwest, where a group of masked people stormed the local prefect’s residence.

In Paris, smashed shop windows, burned-out bicycles and graffiti-covered slogans bore witness to a day that began with peaceful demonstrations but descended into violence.