Live: France’s CRS riot police deployed again in Paris as unrest continues

This photo shows the aftermath of a recent fire at the intersection of Rue Léon Jouhaux and Valmy in Paris. According to a FRANCE 24 journalist, a few dozen people were present at the scene, but the crowd was not very dense. Photo: Ines Emprin

A FRANCE 24 journalist reported that the situation is still tense around the République square in Paris, where the police fired tear gas on groups comprising a mix of demonstrators, curious onlookers and bystanders.

France was reeling from widespread damage caused by violent protests the day before that saw 1,800 people arrested, a historic town hall torched and widespread looting

Police disperse 'unauthorised' gathering at Place de la République in Paris

Is the anger in France driven more by declining living standards or by the perception that the economic burden is being distributed unfairly? We discuss this with our guest, Joseph Downing, a senior lecturer in politics and international relations at Aston University.

This weekend, in cities across France, some 800,000 protesters, including students, railway workers and members of the Yellow Vest movement, took to the streets in largely peaceful nationwide demonstrations.

Sparked by a month of high school student protests over educational inequality and crumbling school facilities, the movement has grown into a broader outcry over the cost of living, public spending and climate inaction, as people across France say they have reached their breaking point.

US President Donald Trump blamed immigration for unrest during protests in France and urged the country to tighten its migration rules." France is burning! The immigration of people from an entirely different world, people with hatred in their hearts, has shattered that once great country," Trump said in a post on his Truth Social platform. "Close your Borders and take control, before it is too late!"

Sébastien Lecornu will chair an interministerial crisis task force on Monday at 10am, two days after violence erupted on the sidelines of the October 17 demonstrations, the prime minister’s office has confirmed.The meeting was originally scheduled for Sunday at 7pm, but has been postponed due to "scheduling" issues.

FRANCE 24's Antonia Kerrigan returns to Place de la République after yesterday's demonstrations, where violent clashes erupted between police and protesters.

President Emmanuel Macron will "address the French people in a formal statement at 8:00pm" on Sunday, the Élysée Palace has announced, following the widespread violence and looting that took place on the sidelines of the October 17 demonstrations. The head of state will convene with ministers at 5.

30pm at the palace, as the government faces pressure from opposition parties and certain mayors regarding the handling of Saturday’s protests. Currently no changes have been made to the president's planned trip to four Gulf states – Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and Qatar – scheduled for Monday.

President of the French National Assembly, Yaël Braun-Pivet, will propose on Tuesday morning during the Assembly’s Conference of Presidents a parliamentary inquiry into the violence and looting that occurred on the sidelines of the October 17 demonstrations, according to a statement.

The inquiry will also examine the law enforcement strategy and any "potential shortcomings" within it, which has been called into question by opposition parties and certain mayors.

Around 1,500 shops and retailers were damaged in French protests on the weekend, with many of them looted, the head of a group representing the sector said. The cost to the establishments will run to "several hundreds of millions of euros", Alexandre Bompard, president of the Retail and Trade Federation, told LCI television, adding it was too early to give an exact figure.

French Prime Sébastien Lecornu will hold an interministerial crisis meeting at 7PM, saying that the meeting will focus on "the economy and commerce", "insurance" and "legal proceedings" in the wake of widespread vandalism and looting that broke out on the margins of Saturday's demonstrations.

The prime minister's office also announced that Lecornu will meet with the mayors of Paris, Marseille and Lyon at a date still to be determined.

French Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez said that more than 500 police, gendarmes and firefighters had been injured during Saturday's protests, adding that the toll remained provisional.

There have been no estimates of how many demonstrators have been injured during the violent clashes between police and protesters that broke out on the margins of the peaceful marches, although a 17-year-old boy in Saint-Etienne had his hand blown off by a stun grenade fired by police.

FRANCE 24 international affairs editor Shirli Sitbon breaks down what we know about the people who showed up for Saturday's nationwide protests – peaceful or otherwise.

Police arrested more than 1,800 during French protests, interior minister says

French Green Party leader Marine Tondelier called for Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez to resign, slamming the law enforcement response to Saturday's nationwide protests as an "absolute disaster"." Unable to anticipate an adequate security setup guaranteeing the safety of people and property, Laurent Nuñez is clearly overwhelmed by the situation, whose scale he has evidently underestimated," she wrote on social media.

She accused the minister of leaving whole cities "abandoned to rioters" while police assaulted peaceful demonstrators.

More than 500 people were being held in police custody after a "record number" of arrests during Saturday's protests in Paris, the public prosecutor's office said. Of those in custody, 346 were adults and 171 were minors, for a total of 517, the prosecutor's office said, adding that the numbers were provisional and could change.

Most of the arrests were for receiving stolen goods, association with intent to commit violence and vandalism, it said.

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