Macron says 'we all feel anger and shame' after protests across France turn into riots
October 18, 2026 at 06:49 PM
French President Emmanuel Macron addressed the nation from the Élysée Palace on Sunday evening, Oct. 18, a day after protests over the rising cost of living turned into rioting and looting in cities across France, telling viewers, "Tonight, we all feel anger and shame" [1]. Interior ministry figures released the same evening showed that 2,397 people were arrested on Saturday and that 997 police officers and gendarmes were injured, seven of them seriously [2].
Saturday's protests brought labor unions and the Yellow Vests movement together with high school students, who began blockading their schools in late September over dilapidated classrooms and missing teachers; the interior ministry put turnout at 550,000, while the CGT union said 800,000 people took part [6][7]. Most of the marches were peaceful, but masked groups attacked shops in Paris, Marseille and Lille, and in Limoges, in central France, rioters set fire to the 19th-century town hall, bringing down its clock tower and roof [4][5]. In Marseille, masked groups stormed the city hall and a police station, a tourist office in central Lyon was set ablaze, and traders' unions said more than 1,500 shops and businesses were ransacked [1][5][6].
Limoges Mayor Guillaume Guérin said the city's municipal police ran out of ammunition at around 3:30 p.m. and could no longer hold off the rioters, calling it "a colossal failure of the state" [5]. On Sunday evening, about 7,000 people, according to a city estimate, gathered in Limoges for a march toward the burned town hall [8]. In Paris, clashes resumed on Sunday when police fired tear gas and stun grenades at hundreds of people who had gathered at the Place de la République after calls on social media, making 42 arrests [1]. In Saint-Étienne, a 17-year-old boy had his right hand blown off by a crowd-control grenade, and in Mulhouse a 17-year-old girl lost an eye [1][5].
In his address, which lasted eight minutes and 40 seconds, Macron blamed "agitators from ultra-left fringe groups, joined by numerous delinquents," and said people who marched with "legitimate demands" must never be confused with "those who destroyed, smashed and looted" [1][2][4]. "Nothing justifies it, nothing explains it, nothing excuses it," he said, adding that the justice minister had asked prosecutors to show the utmost firmness and that "those who destroyed must pay, those who looted must pay back" [2][3]. He said prefects, the government's representatives in each department, would be able to ban certain gatherings if necessary, but he stopped short of declaring a state of emergency or imposing a curfew [1][2].
Politicians on both the left and the right have criticized the policing, and some have called for Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez to resign [5]. Macron said he had asked Nuñez to "draw all necessary lessons" on intelligence gathering and anticipation and that he expected "clear answers," while Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu was set to chair a crisis meeting of ministers on Monday on insurance, help for damaged shops and the prosecution of those responsible [1][6].
Later in the address, Macron acknowledged that young people in high schools and universities had been expressing "deep anxiety" since mid-September and said Lecornu would soon bring students, teachers, employers' organizations, unions and local authorities together to work out solutions [3]. The government has already promised 3,000 more substitute teachers and dropped plans to raise some university registration fees [7].
We cannot ask our youth to believe in the future without giving them the opportunity to build the answers and to be at the table.
According to the Guardian, fuel prices climbed after U.S. bombing effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz, and people angry about the cost of living joined the students' marches [7]. Macron said in the address that since the war in Iran began in February he had taken several international initiatives to secure France's fuel and gas supplies, and that he would travel to Gulf countries on Monday morning to keep them secure [3].
With the presidential election six months away, almost no politician defended the government's handling of the unrest after the address [2][6]. Marine Le Pen, the far-right National Rally's candidate, said the administration was "running on fumes, exhausted and disoriented," and Jean-Luc Mélenchon of the hard-left France Unbowed warned that the country could be heading toward "events that will eventually become uncontrollable" [1]. Macron said the country "deserves a fine presidential election," with debates held "with the parties, rather than in the streets with violence" [1]. U.S. President Donald Trump weighed in on social media, writing "France is burning!" and blaming immigration for the unrest [1].
References
- [1]France 24 (Macron says 'nothing justifies' violence in protests during address to nation)
- [2]RFI («Honte et colère»: après les violences du 17 octobre en France, Macron promet fermeté et dialogue)
- [3]franceinfo ("Rien ne le justifie, rien ne l'explique, rien ne l'excuse" : ce qu'il faut retenir de l'allocution d'Emmanuel Macron après les violences du 17 octobre)
- [4]BBC (Macron calls for calm in France and warns rioting must not escalate)
- [5]The Guardian (Macron criticises 'unbridled violence' after days of unrest and 2,000 arrests across France)
- [6]France 24 ('Like we had a war': France left reeling after nationwide violent protests)
- [7]The Guardian (Why are people protesting across Europe?)
- [8]franceinfo (A Limoges, 7 000 personnes se sont rassemblées pour une marche après l'incendie de l'hôtel de ville en marge de la mobilisation du 17 octobre)