Macron keeps Nuñez in office and demands answers over france riot failures
Emmanuel Macron rejects Laurent Nuñez’s resignation after riots and looting across France, calling for transparency over security planning and intelligence failures.
French President Emmanuel Macron has rejected Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez’s offer to resign following a weekend of riots and looting across the country, as the government faces questions over its handling of the unrest.
The Élysée presidential office said on Monday, October 19, that Macron wanted Nuñez to remain in his position to maintain the chain of command within the police and security forces. The president also instructed the interior minister to introduce new methods to deal with looting and violent rioters.
Macron called for transparency over the security failures that contributed to the violence, particularly problems with planning and intelligence gathering. The unrest saw shops looted, public buildings damaged and violent clashes between protesters and police in several French cities.
Nuñez acknowledged shortcomings in the security response and said he had taken responsibility for what happened. “On Saturday in some major cities, you couldn’t look shopkeepers in the eye after hundreds of shops had been looted and tell them we hadn’t lost control,” he said.
The interior minister said authorities had not adequately anticipated the scale of the demonstrations or the number of people involved in looting. Around 60,000 police officers and other law enforcement personnel were deployed across France on Saturday, according to Nuñez.
The demonstrations began amid anger over rising living costs, public services and conditions in schools. While many people joined peaceful protests, violence and looting broke out in several locations, increasing pressure on the government to restore public order.
