Follow-Up: France Protests Escalate After Dark as Limoges Town Hall Is Set Ablaze and Largely Destroyed

Paris — France's nationwide day of protest escalated sharply after dark on Oct. 17, as the town hall in the central city of Limoges was set on fire and largely destroyed. According to AFP, a group of masked people torched a municipal police car outside the town hall on Saturday evening before smashing the building's windows, entering it and setting a fire on the ground floor; French media said the group broke in at around 5 p.m. The blaze spread through one wing and reached the roof. Firefighters arrived shortly after 6 p.m. as hundreds of residents watched nearby.

Maurice Barate, the prefect of Haute-Vienne, said the roof had collapsed onto the lower floors everywhere except the west wing and that about two-thirds of the building's exterior had already disappeared, leaving the town hall "largely lost." He called the fire a "catastrophe for heritage" and a deliberate act by hooligans, not protesters. Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez confirmed the fire was set intentionally. Officials, police and staff were still inside the building when the fire was set, but the prefect said no one was injured in the blaze itself. The town hall's emblematic bell tower also collapsed in the fire. Several shops in central Limoges were looted the same night, and protesters clashed with police near the prefecture.

The Limoges town hall was inaugurated in 1883, its design inspired by the Paris city hall, and it has been listed as a historic monument since 1975. About 5,000 people marched in Limoges on Saturday; the prefect said several hundred of them were "radicalized and extremely violent." The mayor of Limoges has filed a criminal complaint over the arson.

The overnight violence was not confined to Limoges. In Lyon, the tourist office on Place Bellecour was burned down, and in Bordeaux rioters broke into and ransacked the prefect's official residence, according to French media. In Paris, hooded groups looted shops across the capital late into the evening, targeting trainer and smartphone stores, torched cars and briefly erected barricades around the Champs-Élysées; riot police used tear gas and water cannon to disperse the crowds, and one group of hooded individuals got within about 150 yards of the Élysée Palace, the presidential residence, before being driven back. Paris mayor Emmanuel Grégoire said "entire streets have been methodically ravaged." The interior ministry said Marseille, Rennes, Toulouse and Angers also saw targeted violence against buildings and businesses during the night.

Earlier in the evening, Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu announced that 1,200 people had been arrested across France during the day and that 150 police officers had been injured, as GSM reported earlier. President Emmanuel Macron said those who set fires, looted and attacked administrative buildings and businesses "will be prosecuted and punished," according to AFP. The interior ministry put nationwide turnout for the day at 550,000, while organizers claimed 800,000.

Source: GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)

Photo: 图：法国中部城市Limoges市政厅（资料图，火灾前摄），该建筑1883年落成、1975年列入历史建筑保护名录，10月17日晚遭纵火大部焚毁。Rslr 摄，CC BY-SA 4.0，取自维基共享资源。Photo: The town hall of Limoges in central France (file photo, taken before the fire). Inaugurated in 1883 and listed as a historic monument in 1975, the building was largely destroyed by arson on the night of Oct. 17. By Rslr, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

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