Live: Trump says 'France is burning', blames 'immigration' for nationwide protests

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.

A demonstrator died from 'cardiorespiratory arrest' during Paris protests, police say

A 'record' 855 people detained in Paris during protests, police sayVance blames immigration for violence during protests in FranceFire at Limoge's town hall 'has been contained', police prefect tells local mediaMore than 500 people held in custody following Paris protests, prosecutor saysA demonstrator died from 'cardiorespiratory arrest' during Paris protests, police sayPresident of National Assembly to call inquiry into the violence and looting that took place alongside peaceful protestsPresident Emmanuel Macron to address the French people with formal statement at 8pm

Police in Paris said they had detained 855 people in the capital during the demonstrations that swept France Saturday. Police said the number detained over Saturday's protests was a "record figure", while deputy mayor Lamia El Aaraje said Paris had been hit by "a level of violence that I believe we had never seen before".

The capital's police prefecture added that 13 police officers and gendarmes had been injured, as well as two firefighters.

Photos: Stéphanie Lecocq and Abdul Saboor, Reuters

In Paris, tens of thousands marched across the east and north of the city in one major march on Saturday, some shouting "Everyone hates the police" and "Macron, resign". Paris Mayor Emmanuel Grégoire stressed that "the overwhelming majority of demonstrators" wanted to "march calmly", but added that "acts of vandalism" were tarnishing their protest.

Riot police launched barrages of tear gas and charged the crowds as demonstrators gathered at Place de la République ahead of the authorised march. One demonstrator, Jules Petrichor, 47, who had brought his son, said: "There was a good atmosphere and then suddenly they (the police) started gassing us, even though nothing was happening. Naturally that worsened things and the hot-heads got hot-headed."

Read more about how the day of nationwide protests unfolded by clicking on the link below.

A fire that devastated the town hall in the French city of Limoges during yesterday's nation-wide protests has been contained, the prefect said." A wild horde" had "deliberately" set fire to the 143-year-old building, whose roof largely collapsed during Saturday's protests, Maurice Barate, prefect for the Haute-Vienne department, told TV news channel LCI.

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