Hundreds arrested in Paris as rioters defy Macron (VIDEOS)

Nearly 350 people were arrested in Paris on Sunday and overnight amid violent unrest sweeping France despite President Emmanuel Macron’s appeals for calm, the authorities said on Monday.

Hundreds of thousands protested rising living costs and education funding cuts over the weekend, with demonstrations escalating into clashes with police, arson and looting.

The violence erupted Saturday as Yellow Vest demonstrations merged with student protests that began last month at a high school in Creteil, near Paris, over teacher shortages and deteriorating facilities. The movement has since broadened into protests against inequality and rising living costs, with labor unions joining in opposition to the government’s proposed 2027 budget and spending cuts.

Despite Macron’s Friday appeal for “calm and respect,” Paris endured two days of rioting. On Sunday, protesters clashed with police near Place de la Republique as vehicles and trach cans burned, shops were looted and officers deployed tear gas and water cannons.

Footage showed charred wreckage, shattered storefronts, smashed advertising signs and graffiti-covered businesses.

A crowd also attacked RT Arabic correspondent Wafa Fakkani while she was filming the protests. Her cameraman captured the incident before the crew escaped and resumed reporting.

A day prior, violence hit some of the capital’s wealthiest shopping districts, where luxury retailers were targeted by vandals and looters. Paris Mayor Emmanuel Gregoire said “entire streets” had been “systematically devastated.”

Clashes also erupted in Marseille, Lyon, Lille, Bordeaux, Angers, and Limoges, damaging businesses and public buildings. Alain Di Crescenzo, head of the CCI France chamber of commerce network, estimated that more than 2,000 businesses were affected, with damage reaching “hundreds of millions of euros.”