Get you up to speed: Parisian protestor dies after collapsing during French riots, police say | News World
A protester died from cardiac arrest while walking through Boulevard Magenta during a large demonstration against the rising cost of living in Paris. Over 720 people were arrested nationwide as riots and looting erupted, particularly in central Paris and Limoges.
The unrest resulted in over 720 arrests nationwide, with 117 minors among those detained. In Limoges, authorities confirmed at least 15 individuals were apprehended in connection with arson attacks that caused significant damage to the town hall.
Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu confirmed that 1,200 people were arrested across France during the protests, which he described as “of extreme intensity.” In response to the unrest, officials warned that those involved in violence and looting would face prosecution, echoing President Emmanuel Macron‘s condemnation of the riots and assertion that “there is no place for violence in our republic.”
What remains unclear — Authorities have not provided details on the identities or conditions of the individuals arrested during the protests.
Protester dies after collapsing during nationwide demonstrations in France
At least one protester has died after one of France’s largest demonstrations in years spiralled into riots and looting.
More than half a million people furious with the spiralling cost of living marched in roughly 110 places up and down the country yesterday.
A protester who suffered cardiac arrest while walking through Boulevard Magenta in Paris has died, a police insider told TF1info.
He was taken to the Château d’Eau emergency centre but ‘died before arrival’, they added.
More than 720 people, including 117 minors, were arrested after ‘individuals whose sole objective was to commit theft and looting’ swept Paris, the force said.
As people peacefully protested, black-clad agitators shattered luxury store windowfronts, ransacked shops, lobbed mortar-style fireworks and set wheelie bins and bikes on fire in the night.
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The town hall of Limoges was gutted by fire (Picture: AFP)
Hundreds of thousands took to the streets over the country’s cost of living crisis (Picture: EPA)
Hundreds of looters tore through Place de la République, in central Paris, smashing the Galeries Lafayette department store, banks and other shops.
But the violence was not contained to the capital. A town hall in Limoges, just south of Paris, crumbled yesterday evening after looters broke the windows to get inside and set it alight.
The flames engulfed a wing of the 1883 building before reaching the roof and causing the bell tower to collapse.
A town hall employee watched the building burn in tears, AFP reports.
At least 15 people were arrested in connection with the alleged nighttime arson attacks, according to news outlet Ouest France.
In Lille, as officers launched tear gas, rioters snuck into a government building and tipped over a bust of Marianne, a symbol of the Republic.
The unrest came on the heels of weeks of student-led demonstrations (Picture: Jonathan JACOB/SIPA/Shutterstock)
Shops in Lille, northern France, were looted (Picture: AFP/Getty Images)
A tourism office in Lyon was also broken into and set on fire by masked rioters, as was a police station in Brest.
French youth have been marching through streets since late September over the country’s creaky, under-funded colleges and lack of teachers.
Union Syndicale Lycéenne, a student union organising the protests, said France’s school system is the ‘result of 10 years of Macronism’, referring to outgoing president Emmanuel Macron.
On the heels of the teen-led movement, campaigners called on people of all ages furious with France’s rising cost of living and fraying social welfare system to join them on Saturday.
Protester Lola, 19, told The Guardian: ‘We are fighting because the cost of living is too harsh, because the price of fuel is too high, because high school pupils are being violently attacked and hurt all over the country just for trying to protest and ask for more teachers and decent learning conditions.’
Some social media users have been calling for the revival of the ‘yellow vests’, the movement which shook France with similar protests against living costs in 2018.
Officials blamed the riots on ‘opportunists’ (Picture: Sebastien/ABACA/Shutterstock)
Hundreds were arrested in Paris alone (Picture: Jonathan JACOB/SIPA/Shutterstock)
But human rights groups feared a repeat of how the police have responded to the student protests in recent weeks.
Amnesty International criticised the use of tear gas and stun grenades to disperse young people.
Video filmed on September 28 showed a police officer firing a tear-gas grenade at a 14-year-old boy’s jaw in Saint-Ouen-l’Aumône, Val-d’Oise.
A boy, 15, had his left hand ripped off after a police stun grenade exploded on October 5, Lille prosecutors quoted by Horizon Actu said.
Macron, after nearly a decade in power, will see his final term in office end in May.
He said on Saturday: ‘There is no place for violence in our republic.
‘Those who have broken in, attacked the prefectures as well as businesses and looted even our town halls will be prosecuted and punished.’
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