Weeks of student-led protests over conditions in French schools spiraled into violent protests across the country in recent days.

French poltician Patrick Molinoz, vice-president of the French Mayoral Association claims that recent violence in France was "planned", citing a "certain" Russian intereference.

More than 2,500 people have been arrested in the unrest, French officials said.

As France grapples with widespread anger that bubbled over in the form of violent protests last weekend, appetite – at least among the country’s youth – for centrist politics of the kind that Macron represents appears to be rapidly shrinking.

Authorities said masked groups on Saturday set fires and attacked public buildings, including city halls, in several cities.

France’s Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez acknowledged the police had “lost control” in some cities over the weekend as looting broke out and buildings burned.

The violence that rocked France this weekend as cost-of-living protests degenerated into looting and burning nationwide is raising alert levels across Europe, where elections will be held in at least half a dozen countries next year.

Le Pen is positioning her party as more capable than centrist or left-wing forces before the 2027 presidential election.

Carrefour, France's largest publicly traded retailing group, saw its shares drop more than 13 percent Wednesday after it warned that the recent violent protests across France would dent profits. "We were on track for our goals but then the deterioration of the social and security conditions required us to tell our investors,

Fabrice Leggeri, MEP for Rassemblement Nationale speaks to Euronews on the recent violence and protests in France. View on euronews

Demands for more school funding combined with a market rout have exposed another fault line amid growing economic strain.

PARIS— Rioters clashed with police, set cars on fire, stormed public buildings and engulfed a historic city hall in flames in France’s worst civil unrest in years as violence and looting swept through major cities during nationwide protests. About 2,400 people were arrested over the weekend, and authorities said thousands of businesses were damaged or looted. The rioting overshadowed demonstrations against rising living costs and poor conditions...