17.10.2026 16:50
At a time when violence was escalating in France, President Macron's attending a Celine Dion concert sparked criticism. More than 160 people were detained in the incidents that erupted in the country.
French President Emmanuel Macron has become the focus of criticism after attending a Celine Dion concert with his wife Brigitte Macron at a critical time when protests and violent incidents are escalating across the country. More than 160 people were detained in incidents across the country, while violent clashes broke out between protesters and security forces in many cities, especially the capital Paris.
Groups remaining from the Yellow Vests movement, students and union members came together in large-scale protests held on Saturday. It was reported that hundreds of thousands of people participated in the incidents, in which police intervened against demonstrators with tear gas at different points of the country.
The 48-year-old President Macron being seen together with his 73-year-old wife Brigitte Macron at the Celine Dion concert held at Plenitude Arena in Paris on Friday evening, when the incidents escalated, drew a harsh public reaction. Moments when the couple danced to music in the private box reserved for them were captured by cameras.
A few hours after these images leaked to the public, violent incidents broke out in many cities, including the capital Paris and Marseille. According to a statement by the authorities, as of 11:00 on Saturday, 61 people were detained in Paris alone, while the total number of detentions across the country reached 166.
Students, unions and Yellow Vests activists joined forces to protest inadequate physical conditions in schools, rising inflation and France's increasingly weakening social state structure. As the morning hours progressed, fires broke out in many cities; demonstrators clashed with police by setting up makeshift barricades. In Marseille, some protesters occupied the city hall, while the tourism office in Lyon was set on fire.
In Paris, roads around Gare du Nord train station and strategic routes where the offices of the right-wing media organization CNews are located were blocked with barricades by protesters. In Marseille and Lyon, it was reported that police used tear gas, gas bombs and water cannons to disperse the demonstrators. Businesses closed their windows with shutters against possible looting and attacks, while many metro stations in the capital Paris were put out of service.
In an official statement on Friday evening, President Emmanuel Macron called on demonstrators to exercise restraint and demanded that “respect be shown” for individual rights and public property. Security sources, meanwhile, predicted that approximately 200,000 people across the country were expected to participate in protests on Saturday, with 40,000 of this crowd concentrated in Paris.
Public Building Set on Fire in Lyon
On Saturday, the intensity of violent incidents increased in metropolises such as Paris, Lyon and Marseille. Demonstrators hiding their faces with masks lit fires in the streets; they set up barricades while throwing flares and fireworks.
In Lyon, a group of activists set fire to the local tourism office. Hooded groups positioned nearby attacked security forces with foreign objects and mortar-type fireworks. It was claimed that firefighters who wanted to intervene in the fire in the building, which quickly succumbed to flames, were prevented by violent groups. In a statement from the regional prefecture, it was noted that “many attacker foci are preventing firefighters from safely intervening in the fire at the tourism office,” and that security forces were carrying out operations to disperse the groups.
City Hall Stormed in Marseille
In Marseille, France's second-largest city, protesters broke the entrance door and forcibly entered the city hall. According to information conveyed by media personnel at the scene, one of the activists who slipped inside drew the “A” logo symbolizing anarchism on the wall with spray paint. Security forces intervened in the situation shortly afterward.
During the raid, a demonstrator was heard shouting “We are taking the Bastille!” in reference to the storming of the Bastille prison during the 1789 French Revolution. In the city, a police station was also targeted, its windows were broken, and some nearby shops were looted.
Economic and Social Crisis Deepens
The first wave of social unrest began last month in high schools in socioeconomically disadvantaged suburbs north of Paris. Anger over the shortage of teachers and the neglect of schools quickly turned into a nationwide mass movement against income injustice, inadequate public spending and declining education standards.
These protests leave France facing a serious political impasse at a time when Macron is entering the final stretch of his presidency. Political experts assess that Macron's political legacy will be shaped by a polarized electorate and a fragmented domestic political architecture. France's long-standing structural problems in balancing public finances have also come back onto the agenda on this occasion. Investors' distancing from French government bonds has pushed the country's borrowing costs to their highest level in the last twenty years.
Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu said in a statement on Thursday that authorities were deeply concerned about the security risks the protests could create. While the government side accused the left-wing France Unbowed (LFI) movement of fueling the actions, LFI leadership categorically denied these claims. Prime Minister Lecornu summarized the country's general mood with these words: “This is a period in which the country is exhausted. We are living in a constant crisis environment due to wars, inflation and chronic problems related to purchasing power.”