France. Authorities condemn violence that has affected 1,500 traders

Athe french authorities condemned the disorder and violence during the saturday protests in the main cities of the country, which will have affected 1,500 traders and caused hundreds of millions of euros in losses.

The demonstrations aimed to denounce the precarious situation of public education, the high cost of living and police violence in recent weeks. The balance of the day was 1,800 detainees and more than 500 injured officers, according to data from the French Government.

The French Minister of the Interior, Laurent Nuñez, denounced social media attacks on security forces as well as attacks on institutions, public buildings and commercial establishments. He stressed that, “sadly”, the wounded’s balance presented is only provisional.

Nuñez attributed the responsibility of these crimes to “thousands of far-right individuals”, to whom later “criminals” who “stacked and devastated” various establishments in cities such as Paris, Marseille, Lyon, Bordeaux, Rennes, Strasbourg, Grenoble, Nice, Limoges “and many others”.

“Nothing can justify this,” he said. Faced with this scenario, Nuñez recalled that, although “manifesting is a fundamental right, sowing disorder with violence and in a coordinated way is not so”.

The Interior Minister thanked the police, gendarmes and firefighters who “acted in extreme conditions” throughout France. And he announced that as of today, investigations will be initiated to identify the perpetrators of these acts and bring them to court.

“The Republic will give nothing to those who want to impose disorder and violence,” concluded the minister, in line with the words of President Emmanuel Macron, who had already warned Saturday that those responsible for the riots will be “persecuted and punished.”.

About 550,000 people participated in the mobilizations held this Saturday throughout France, according to the estimated authorities.

The General Confederation of Labour (CGT), the main French trade union, raised the number of participants to more than 800,000.

In this context, the French Minister of Justice, Gérald Darmanin, instructed the authorities of the French Public Prosecutors to request the provisional arrest of those responsible for attacks on the police or public buildings.

According to the President of the French Federation of Commerce and Distribution, violence in France has affected 1,500 traders and caused hundreds of millions of euros in losses.

“It’s a little early” to assess the extent of the damage, but, “with regard to French trade as a whole, 1,500 traders have been directly affected,” and the damage will be “very high,” said Alexandre Bompard to the LCI channel, mentioning an amount of “several hundreds of millions of euros”.