France reels from weekend of chaos as violence spreads across Europe

France is reeling from its worst rioting in years after nationwide protests over education and the cost of living spiraled into a wave of deadly, country-wide violence that has sparked a blame game at home and threatens to spill over into its European neighbors.

Police fired tear gas into crowds and fought running battles with black-clad, hooded rioters who set fires and broke into shops and government buildings, with images showing historic buildings ablaze.

More than 2,000 people were arrested, with at least two deaths and reports of serious injuries, including two people who lost their hands. As France begins to count the cost, accusations are mounting that the government failed to adequately anticipate the scale of the crisis, with an election to succeed French President Emmanuel Macron just six months away.

The vast majority of protesters have been peaceful, authorities and political leaders stress – but the level of fighting and destruction , the worst seen in years, has shaken the nation and prompted forceful condemnations from leaders and the public alike.

Lucas Destrem/Reuters, Reuters

“Those who destroyed must pay,” Macron said on Sunday evening. “Those who looted must pay back. Those who sought to bring down the Republic will be held accountable.”

He also promised to hold meetings this week to discuss “concrete proposals” and to listen to protesters’ demands. But it remains to be seen whether this will be enough to stem the protests in France – as well as similar demonstrations against costs of living now spreading in other countries nearby.

It all began in September with a strike by students and teachers at a high school in the Parisian suburbs, who demanded more staff and resources. Their demands were met and the strike ended – but it lit a spark that soon caught nationwide.

Students around the country, long frustrated with an understaffed and overcrowded education system, launched protests that at times turned violent. A heavy-handed police response fueled public anger and pushed hundreds of thousands of people onto the streets, especially after videos of a police officer using a banned headlock on a girl.

Luc Auffret/Anadolu/Getty Images

Within a few weeks, the protests swelled to become a broader movement beyond students, capturing widespread discontent over affordability, perceived government inaction, a growing wealth divide, and a deep desire for social and political change.

“This can’t go on,” said 57-year-old Maria Pallas, a member of a major French trade union, speaking to CNN at Saturday’s protest in Paris. “There’s the cost of living. There’s unemployment. There’s a bunch of things. A young person will go looking for work, we’ll promise him a lot, and he’ll end up with nothing.”

Over half a million people hit the streets across France on Saturday. For the most part, things were peaceful; far-left leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon described the crowd in Paris as “moving calmly.”

But in several locations the protests spilled into violence, especially as night fell. In Paris, groups of masked young people looted shops and started fires; in Lyon, protesters torched the city’s tourist office; in the central city of Limoges, the spire of a 143-year-old town hall collapsed in flames, reviving painful memories for some of the Notre Dame Cathedral fire.

The protests subsided somewhat on Sunday, with small pockets flaring, and police firing tear gas into the hallowed Place de la République, one of the largest public squares in Paris.

Firas Abdullah/Anadolu/Getty Images

Abdul Saboor/Reuters

By the end of the weekend, Paris looked like a “war zone,” one visitor to the city told Reuters. Residents across the capital were stunned, with some condemning the looters and rioters, and others placing blame with authorities who failed to address the crisis earlier.

“It’s heartbreaking, heartbreaking seeing our city like this,” said 59-year-old Marseille resident Farida, who did not give a last name, according to Reuters. “If every protest ends with all the shop windows smashed and stores trashed, this simply cannot go on — it cannot go on.”

One Paris resident, 56-year-old Paola Formenti, voiced support for the protesters’ “legitimate” anger. The violence “has to be condemned, of course,” she said – but added, “I think the only way of actually avoiding this kind of violence is to answer to the protests of the people, to listen to them.”

Though Macron said the government should listen to public grievances, he did not make any concrete assurances or make concessions in his address on Sunday.

Over the weekend protesters took to the streets elsewhere in Europe. In Belgium, students demonstrated against the state of their education system. In Lisbon, Portugal, tens of thousands of people marched on Saturday to protest rising costs of living and the country’s housing crisis.

In Italy, Milan also saw two consecutive nights of unrest this weekend with protesters throwing stones and looting supermarkets, and police responding with tear gas and water cannons.

Meanwhile in Albania, students have been taking to the streets for months, protesting perceived government corruption. Demonstrations in the capital Tirana turned violent this weekend, with one person photographed throwing a Molotov cocktail at riot police.

Authorities in many of these countries have condemned the violence and called for calm. The protests have caught the attention of the White House, with Vice President JD Vance posting a video of the burning Limoges town hall on X and blaming the unrest on failed immigration policy.

US President Donald Trump also mentioned the protests during a rally in Georgia this weekend, joking: “Let’s go to France and join the revolution and spend our $5,000 there,” referring to the dividend promised if the Republicans win the midterm elections.

CNN’s Joseph Ataman, Catherine Nicholls, Sana Noor Haq, James Legge, and Melissa Bell contributed to this report.

法国正遭受多年来最严重的骚乱冲击，此前全国范围内的抗议活动因教育和生活成本问题而演变成席卷全国的致命暴力浪潮，这在国内引发了相互指责，并有可能蔓延到其欧洲邻国。

警方向人群发射催泪瓦斯，并与身穿黑衣、头戴兜帽的暴徒发生激烈冲突，暴徒纵火焚烧商店和政府大楼，画面显示历史建筑燃起熊熊大火。

超过2000人被捕，至少两人死亡，另有多人重伤，​​其中包括两人失去双手。随着法国开始统计损失，越来越多的人指责政府未能充分预见危机规模，而距离法国总统马克龙的继任者选举仅剩六个月。

当局和政治领导人强调，绝大多数抗议者都是和平的——但多年来最严重的冲突和破坏程度震惊了全国，并引发了领导人和公众的强烈谴责。

卢卡斯·德斯特雷姆/路透社，路透社

马克龙周日晚间表示：“破坏者必须付出代价。抢劫者必须偿还。企图颠覆共和国的人必将受到法律制裁。”

他还承诺本周将举行会议，讨论“具体方案”，并听取抗议者的诉求。但这些措施是否足以平息法国的抗议活动，以及目前在邻国蔓延的、反对生活成本上涨的类似示威活动，仍有待观察。

一切始于九月，巴黎郊区一所高中的学生和教师举行罢工，要求增加教职工人数和资源。他们的诉求得到满足，罢工结束——但这却点燃了一场席卷全国的风暴。

全国各地的学生长期以来对师资不足、人满为患的教育系统感到不满，发起抗议活动，其中一些演变为暴力冲突。警方的强硬应对进一步激起了公众的愤怒，尤其是在一段警察对一名女孩使用违禁锁喉动作的视频曝光后，数十万人走上街头。

吕克·奥弗雷/阿纳多卢/盖蒂图片社

短短几周内，抗议活动就发展成为一场超越学生群体的更广泛运动，反映了民众对住房负担能力、政府不作为、日益扩大的贫富差距以及对社会和政治变革的强烈渴望等方面的普遍不满。

“这种情况不能再继续下去了，”57岁的玛丽亚·帕拉斯说道。她是法国一家大型工会的成员，周六在巴黎的抗议活动中接受CNN采访时表示，“生活成本高，失业率高，还有很多其他问题。年轻人去找工作，我们会给他们很多承诺，但最终他们什么也得不到。”

周六，超过50万人走上法国各地街头。总体而言，场面和平；极左翼领导人让-吕克·梅朗雄形容巴黎的示威人群“平静地行进着”。

但在一些地方，抗议活动演变成暴力事件，尤其是在夜幕降临之后。在巴黎，一群群蒙面年轻人抢劫商店并纵火；在里昂，抗议者焚烧了该市的旅游局；在中部城市利摩日，一座拥有143年历史的市政厅尖顶在火焰中倒塌，这让一些人再次想起巴黎圣母院大火的痛苦记忆。

周日，抗议活动有所缓和，但仍有零星零星的冲突爆发。警方在巴黎最大的公共广场之一——神圣的共和国广场发射了催泪瓦斯。

菲拉斯·阿卜杜拉/阿纳多卢/盖蒂图片社

阿卜杜勒·萨布尔/路透社

一位到访巴黎的游客告诉路透社，周末结束时，巴黎宛如“战区”。首都居民震惊不已，一些人谴责抢劫和骚乱者，另一些人则指责当局未能及早应对危机。

“看到我们的城市变成这样，真是令人心碎，心碎，”据路透社报道，59岁的马赛居民法里达（未透露姓氏）说。“如果每次抗议都以砸碎商店橱窗、洗劫店铺告终，这种情况绝对不能再继续下去了——绝对不能再继续下去了。”

一位名叫保拉·福门蒂（Paola Formenti）的56岁巴黎居民表示支持抗议者的“合理”愤怒。她说，暴力“当然必须受到谴责”，但她补充道，“我认为真正避免此类暴力的唯一方法是回应民众的抗议，倾听他们的声音。”

尽管马克龙表示政府应该倾听公众的诉求，但他在周日的讲话中并没有做出任何具体的保证或让步。

周末期间，欧洲其他地区也爆发了抗议活动。在比利时，学生们举行示威游行，抗议教育体系的现状。在葡萄牙里斯本，数万人于周六走上街头，抗议不断上涨的生活成本和该国的住房危机。

本周末，意大利米兰也连续两晚发生骚乱，抗议者投掷石块并抢劫超市，警方则以催泪瓦斯和高压水炮进行镇压。

与此同时，在阿尔巴尼亚，学生们已连续数月走上街头，抗议他们认为的政府腐败。本周末，首都地拉那的示威活动演变为暴力冲突，有人被拍到向防暴警察投掷燃烧弹。

许多国家的当局谴责了暴力行为，并呼吁民众保持冷静。这些抗议活动引起了白宫的关注，副总统约翰·万斯在X社交媒体上发布了一段利摩日市政厅被烧毁的视频，并将骚乱归咎于失败的移民政策。

美国总统唐纳德·特朗普本周末在佐治亚州的一次集会上也提到了抗议活动，他开玩笑说：“让我们去法国参加革命，把我们的 5000 美元花在那里吧。”他指的是如果共和党赢得中期选举，承诺发放的 5000 美元分红。

CNN 的 Joseph Ataman、Catherine Nicholls、Sana Noor Haq、James Legge 和 Melissa Bell 对本报告做出了贡献。