France moves to impose curfews as it reels from worst violence in years

More than half a million people took part in the protests across France, according to the interior ministry, and nearly 2,400 people were arrested. Almost 1,000 police officers and firefighters were injured, it added.

Macron blamed “troublemakers from far-left fringe groups” for the violence.

“Watching these images, we all wondered how French people could do this to France,” he said in a televised address on Sunday. “Nothing justifies it, nothing explains it, nothing excuses it.”

Macron added that “those who sought to bring down the Republic will be held accountable.”

Macron’s centrist administration, in its final months of power, has been consumed by a mounting sense of crisis that could pave the way for the far-right to take power next year. Macron will leave the presidency of the Eurozone’s second-biggest nation with ballooned debt, stagnated growth and deep-seated social discontent.

As the damage became clearer on Sunday, political leaders across the spectrum pointed fingers at each other for the violence.

Macron’s centrist government blamed the far-left, while the leading far-left candidate Jean-Luc Mélenchon blamed the incumbents. Leading far-right presidential hopeful Marine Le Pen on Sunday called Macron’s administration “exhausted, disoriented and seemingly incapable of doing anything other than commenting on its own powerlessness.”

She leads the polls ahead of April’s vote.