Europe

Clashes in France: Macron rejects the interior minister’s resignation

A further 350 protesters have been arrested, and around a thousand police officers have been injured. A 17-year-old girl is at risk of losing an eye. Trump: ‘Close the borders’

19 October 2026

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Un pompiere interviene sullo sfondo degli scontri tra la polizia antisommossa e manifestanti nel corso delle proteste nazionali contro il carovita a Parigi, in Francia (EPA)

3' min read

Translated by AI

Versione italiana

3' min read

Translated by AI

Versione italiana

France continues to be gripped by unrest, with all the political repercussions that entails. President Emmanuel Macron has rejected the resignation tendered by the Home Secretary Laurent Nuñez, who had stepped down in the wake of the severe unrest that has gripped French cities during the recent demonstrations against the cost of living.

A further 350 arrests

Minister Nunez himself stated that a further 350 arrests were made yesterday and overnight in Paris following the street clashes. “Over the weekend, there were 2,331 police arrests; 70 per cent involved adults, very often already known to the police”, of whom “over 80 per cent” are facing legal proceedings, said Darmanin. “There are already dozens of cases of pre-trial detention, including 13 in Marseille”, a city particularly hard hit by the violence.

A thousand injured among the police

There were also around a thousand police officers injured, seven of them seriously, as a result of Saturday’s clashes which transformed cities such as Limoges, Marseille and Bordeaux into battlefields. The death toll among minors is also rising, with a 17-year-old girl who is reported to have lost an eye during clashes between police and protesters in Mulhouse, an incident currently under investigation by the IGPN police inspectorate.

Macron addressed the nation: ‘Tonight we all feel anger and shame. Those responsible for the destruction must pay.” The French president issued a stern warning to the rioters who have laid waste to France and who, on Sunday, were back in action at Place de la République, amid fresh clashes with police in riot gear and further looting.

The row between Macron and Mélenchon

“Nothing justifies violence,” Macron warned, urging people “not to confuse the hundreds of thousands” of demonstrators and their “legitimate demands” with “those who have destroyed, vandalised and looted”. He called on “all political parties and trade unions to unequivocally condemn every form of violence”. The President called for intelligence briefings and transparency. He once again denounced “troublemakers belonging to a small far-left group, flanked by numerous criminals” and announced a crackdown: prefects will be able to decide on measures to protect cities, “including banning certain demonstrations”.

This was therefore a message implicitly directed at France Insoumise (LFI) led by Jean-Luc Mélenchon, the radical left-wing party accused of inciting the protests. “All those who today argue that the urgent priority is to take to the streets have but one aim: to hijack the political debate.” “Confrontations must not take place on the streets or through violence. They must be conducted with respect, never in chaos or destruction. Our country deserves a proper presidential election in six months’ time.” Amid the ongoing buck-passing, Mélenchon in turn accused Macron of seeking to “wear down” the situation. “We are not leading the popular movement. It is leading itself through its trade unions and its assemblies. For the past three weeks, LFI MPs and elected representatives have been standing in the way of police violence. That is our role,” the left-wing politician assured on LCI.

Le Pen gears up for the elections

For her part, Marine Le Pen posted a video message on X lasting over eight minutes, in which she addresses the nation in a presidential style, seated at a desk with the tricolour flag behind her. The Rassemblement National candidate, who is leading in the polls ahead of the election, points the finger at ‘an alliance of politicised rioters and delinquents from the banlieues’. But she also denounces “a Macron-led government on its last legs, exhausted and disoriented, which now seems incapable of doing anything except commenting on its own impotence – and, I would say, its decline”.

Trump: ‘Close the borders’

Political speculation on this matter knows no bounds. In the United States, for example, President Donald Trump, in the midst of his election campaign for the Midterm elections, declared: ‘France is in flames! Immigration of people from a completely different world, people who harbour hatred in their hearts, has shattered what was once a great country’. Hence the most classic of propaganda moves: “Close the borders and regain control, before it’s too late!”, concludes the US president.