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France woke up Sunday to devastated streets after clashes between police and protesters, mass looting and fires erupted nationwide as marches against rising costs of living degenerated into \u201cextreme\u201d violence.<\/strong><\/p>\n The widespread unrest followed weeks of student protests and comes just six months ahead of elections to replace President Emmanuel Macron.<\/p>\n Whole streets in Paris \u201chave been devastated\u201d, the city\u2019s mayor Emmanuel Gregoire said as groups of masked young men torched parked cars and ransacked shops.<\/p>\n French Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu, who had condemned the \u201cextreme intensity\u201d of the violence, said 1,200 people had been arrested and 150 police officers hurt.<\/p>\n It was \u201ca miracle the toll isn\u2019t higher\u201d, he said.<\/p>\n The violence began on the sidelines of marches in the capital and other cities over the cost of living that the interior ministry said were attended by 550,000 people.<\/p>\n The CGT union, which took part, said 800,000 people participated.<\/p>\n Police used tear gas and water cannon against protesters who threw projectiles and aimed fireworks.<\/p>\n A 17-year-old boy had his right hand blown off by a crowd-control grenade in the southern city of Saint-Etienne.<\/p>\n During and after those demonstrations, gangs of youths roamed city streets, sporadically confronting police, while setting fires and attacking shuttered stores to break in and empty their shelves.<\/p>\n Scores of shops \u2014 supermarkets, pharmacies, luxury boutiques, clothing retailers, opticians, cosmetic vendors and consumer electronics stores \u2014 were looted in Paris, Marseille, Nice, Nantes, Bordeaux, Limoges, Lille, Toulouse and Strasbourg.<\/p>\n AFP reporters in Paris saw groups of half a dozen young men attacking the shops in an organised way. Wearing masks and gloves, they first disconnected security cameras before smashing windows to get in.<\/p>\n The looting added to a day of destruction and vandalism, with town halls in several cities targeted.<\/p>\n The town hall in the city of Limoges \u2014 more than 140 years old \u2014 was largely destroyed by a blaze set by masked protesters who broke in, according to the region\u2019s top official. Two others were broken into and vandalised in Marseille and Lille.<\/p>\n A police compound in Bordeaux was also vandalised, while in Lyon protesters set ablaze a tourist office.<\/p>\n The violence has drawn global headlines \u2014 in the United States, Vice President JD Vance blamed immigration for the unrest.<\/p>\n \u201cWestern liberals imported the third world into France and other countries in the name of diversity and compassion. They ignored fundamental questions of assimilation and compatibility,\u201d he said on X.<\/p>\n President Macron said that \u201cthose who carried out vandalism, attacked administrative offices or businesses, or carried out looting \u2014 even in our town halls, will be prosecuted and punished\u201d.<\/p>\n Opposition politicians vying to replace Macron in presidential elections in April and May have seized on the chaos.<\/p>\n Far-right candidate Marine Le Pen condemned \u201cthe rioters\u201d and claimed that the party of her far-left rival for the presidency, Jean-Luc Melenchon, had \u201clegitimised the violence\u201d.<\/p>\n She vowed to protect the French \u201cfrom the violence of the extreme left\u201d.<\/p>\n Melenchon, who had prominently supported the demonstrations and the student protests preceding them, urged demonstrators to stay away from any looting, describing it as \u201ccontrary to our methods\u201d.<\/p>\n \u2013 \u2018Revolution\u2019 \u2013<\/p>\n France\u2019s Yellow Vest movement, which staged street protests eight years ago against Macron\u2019s government over planned fuel tax hikes, had called for Saturday\u2019s \u201cyellow and youth\u201d demonstrations.<\/p>\n The principal grievance was the cost of living, pushed up in part by the war in the Middle East that has helped send inflation soaring in Europe as elsewhere.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re sick of slaving away for poverty wages while our rents keep going up,\u201d teacher Regine Monfroid told AFP in the eastern city of Strasbourg.<\/p>\n But there were other issues.<\/p>\n In Paris, tens of thousands marched across the east and north of the city in one major march, some shouting \u201cEveryone hates the police\u201d and \u201cMacron, resign\u201d.<\/p>\n High school student Kamil Alahyan, 18, said he was protesting \u201cfor so many reasons \u2014 the elections coming up in 2027, politicians who lie, the ultra-rich who\u2019ve been taking more and more wealth over the past 10 years\u201d.<\/p>\n Several protesters sought to draw parallels with the French Revolution of 1789.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s the Revolution \u2014 we\u2019re taking the Bastille!\u201d some shouted in Marseille as they forced their way into the mayor\u2019s offices.<\/p>\n In the western city of La Rochelle, marchers streamed behind a placard reading: \u201cRevolution or death.\u201d<\/p>\n And in the southern city of Montpellier, a giant blue sign reading \u201cThe people will win\u201d was unfurled above a central square.<\/p>\n \u201cThe government is trembling and it\u2019s right to tremble because when the French people are angry, they never let up,\u201d Ryad Rani, the head of the LSU high school student representative body, told journalists in Paris.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\u2013 Lootings<\/strong> \u2013<\/h2>\n