France is confronting a major intelligence failure after authorities underestimated the scale of nationwide protests that descended into riots, looting and clashes. President Emmanuel Macron demanded accountability and ordered a review of the security services’ planning and intelligence assessments.

About 550,000 people joined 110 marches across the country on Saturday, France’s Interior Ministry said. Intelligence services had estimated roughly 200,000 demonstrators, while organizers put the turnout as high as 800,000.

Cars were burned and more than 1,500 stores were reportedly looted or destroyed. In Limoges, protesters broke into and set fire to a 19th-century city hall. Its roof collapsed after the building, which had survived both world wars, was damaged. The Louvre remained closed Monday after students blocked its entrances.

Around 60,000 police officers, gendarmes and other security personnel were deployed nationwide. Nearly 1,000 law enforcement officers and firefighters were injured, at least 2,400 people were arrested, and authorities estimated that about 3,000 businesses suffered damage.

Masked groups smashed storefronts, started fires and fought with security forces. In some cities, police could not prevent looters from moving through commercial districts while officers struggled to contain the larger demonstrations.

“Yes, Saturday, in certain large cities, we lost control,” Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez said. He acknowledged that authorities had underestimated both the number of protesters and the violent groups that would exploit the unrest. Nuñez offered his resignation to Macron, who refused it and instead ordered a review of planning and intelligence failures.

Justice Minister Gérald Darmanin was similarly direct. “We unquestionably failed,” he said, specifically pointing to intelligence work and France’s difficulty tracking and confronting the ultra-left.

The movement began in September with high school students protesting teacher shortages, deteriorating school buildings and classroom conditions around Paris. It soon spread nationwide, attracting teachers, labor unions and other groups frustrated by rising living costs and declining public services. Violence had already appeared through school fires, torched cars and clashes with riot police.

At a government crisis meeting on October 1, intelligence officials assessed that the movement had reached a “tipping point,” shifting from school blockades toward urban violence. They attributed its origins to the hard-left France Unbowed party and its allies. Yet authorities were still caught off guard by the scale of the violence more than two weeks later.

Saturday brought students, trade unionists, Yellow Vest veterans and other groups together under a loose “convergence of struggles.” Hundreds of thousands marched peacefully, while smaller groups of masked rioters broke away to loot stores, set fires and attack police.

The unrest also ignited a political fight over immigration. President Donald Trump blamed France’s migration policies for the destruction and urged the country to close its borders. French authorities have not blamed immigrants, instead accusing ultra-left militants and criminals of exploiting protests rooted in education, living costs and public services.

The violence has intensified the political battle ahead of the 2027 presidential election. Marine Le Pen’s National Rally has argued that Macron’s government has lost control, while the wider French right is calling for tougher policing and immigration restrictions. The debate now includes immigration, crime, security and purchasing power, as well as competing explanations involving policing failures, deeper social grievances and integration policies.

Source: foxnews.com