Emmanuel Macron acknowledged on Sunday failures in anticipation and intelligence by French authorities, a day after a weekend of urban violence among the worst the country has seen in years. The cost-of-living protests, which had already drawn tens of thousands of people on Saturday, turned in places into looting and clashes with police.
Interior Minister Laurent Nunez, a former Paris police chief, had offered his resignation to the president, who refused it, saying the minister needed to stay in place to maintain continuity of command within the security forces. Nunez himself acknowledged that authorities had lost control of the situation in certain cities, despite deploying 60,000 police and gendarmes on Saturday.
The number of arrests nationwide climbed past 2,500. An emergency cabinet meeting was called for Monday morning at the Elysee Palace, and Macron pledged support for businesses affected by the damage and looting.