Macron retains interior minister amid nationwide unrest, calling for new policing tactics and accountability

PARIS – France’s Interior Minister offered his resignation following the weekend’s riots and looting in several major cities, but President Emmanuel Macron asked him to remain in charge to address police needs in an emergency, Macron’s office said Monday.

Macron declined Laurent Nuñez’s resignation, citing “the need for continued command of law enforcement in the current context,” according to the statement.

He directed Nuñez to “take all necessary steps to ensure full transparency about the failures in planning and intelligence‑gathering that led to the violence,” Macron’s office said.

Macron also called for the introduction of “new policing tactics on the ground as quickly as possible” to bring the violence to an end.

On Sunday evening, groups of individuals set fire to rubbish bins, bicycles and other objects in the streets and looted businesses in Paris, Lyon, Marseille and other cities, a day after major violence erupted on Saturday during nationwide protests against rising living costs and poor school conditions. At least 2,400 people were arrested across the country.

“I submitted my resignation because I am responsible for everything that is happening,” Nuñez said Monday on France Inter radio.

“Now, the real issue is ensuring that this doesn’t happen again. … We obviously need to be better at anticipating the kind of mobilization that is unfolding,” he said.

Nuñez blamed the violence on “hordes of troublemakers and looters” and “far‑left activists,” and acknowledged that police strategy needs to be adapted “in the face of extremely mobile groups.” Authorities said groups of hundreds of people sought confrontations with police and targeted public buildings, including city halls and other public offices.

Nuñez acknowledged that authorities had “lost control” in some major cities on Saturday, with hundreds of businesses looted.

“You can’t look shopkeepers in the eye when hundreds of businesses have been looted and say we haven’t lost control in some of these major cities. Obviously,” Nuñez said.

Flames engulfed the 19th‑century City Hall in Limoges, central France, causing its roof to collapse and nearly destroying the building.

In Marseille, the prefect banned any protest or other gathering from noon to 8 p.m. on Monday.

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