France counts 2,397 arrests and 997 injured officers after cost-of-living protests turn violent

President Emmanuel Macron condemned what he called "shocking" violence and ordered a review after nationwide protests on Saturday. Police made 2,397 arrests, and 997 police officers and gendarmes were injured, seven of them badly. One protester died of cardiac arrest in Paris. In Limoges, rioters set fire to the 140-year-old town hall. The arrest total approaches the nearly 2,000 recorded on a single day of the yellow-vest protests in December 2018. The protests began over the cost of living and conditions in schools. Macron promised an "uncompromising" response to "agitators from ultra-left fringe groups, joined by numerous delinquents," but did not declare a state of emergency.

The economic pressure is measurable. Euronews traces the protests across Europe to food prices, unaffordable housing and stagnant purchasing power. Euro-zone inflation rose to 3.8% in September, with energy prices up 18.8%. France's rate was 3.4%. The European Central Bank (ECB) raised rates for the second time this year on September 10.

Each outside power gave its own explanation. A Russian independent outlet quoted President Donald Trump urging France to close its border and saying that "immigration of people from a completely different world, people with hatred in their hearts, destroyed this once great country". Vice President JD Vance also blamed immigration. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov called allegations of Russian involvement in European riots absurd.

The evidence available supports a simpler account than any of these. Energy-driven inflation has outpaced wages, the ECB is raising rates into slowing growth, and France has little fiscal room to compensate households.