On Monday, the mayors of France's biggest cities on Monday seek answers from the government to what they termed as a lack of preparation by security forces as the country is accounting for the damages it suffered over a weekend of rioting and looting.
The protests followed after call was given by students, trade unions and yellow vest members on Saturday over high cost of living and the deterioration of public services.
Ahead of Presidential election in next six months, France faced student demonstrations with occasional bouts of street violence, rocking the country, over increasing pressures over a weak economy and surging debt.
On Sunday, President Emmanuel Macron urged for calm from protestors, after France suffered one of its worst days of unrest in years, with thousands arrested and shops looted or damaged after protests.
Nationwide demonstrations had erupted into riots on Saturday, with a town hall torched, shops pillaged and buildings covered in graffiti as violent groups clashed with police in cities across the country.
At the Place Vendome, home to many luxury hotels and boutiques, most shops were shuttered and surrounded by security guards, according to a Reuters reporter. The front door of a Dior boutique was smashed, while the windows were damaged in the stores of various other luxury brands in central Paris, including Rolex, Louis Vuitton, Ralph Lauren and Gucci.
Looking at these images, we have all asked ourselves: What was going through their minds? How can French people do this to France?Emmanuel Macron, President of France
"Looking at these images, we have all asked ourselves: What was going through their minds? How can French people do this to France?" Macron said in a televised address to the nation.
"Nothing justifies it, nothing explains it, nothing excuses it. Tonight, we all feel anger and shame."
Protestors stormed the streets of France from the Lille city in north to Marseille in south, from Strasbourg in the east to Bordeaux in the southwest, where masked protestors mob invaded the residence of local residents.
It is estimated that more than half a million people had joined protest march, marking the convergence of a month long student movement with broader social discontent against rising living costs and declining public services.
Limoges famed for its porcelain, the collapse of the town hall's clock tower in a fiery blaze revived memories of the 2019 fire that devastated Paris' Notre Dame cathedral. Mayor Guillaume Guerin said not enough officers from the national police had been deployed to his city.
"There was a clear, premeditated intention to burn down the town hall, and the people inside feared for their lives," Guerin told Reuters on Sunday. He threatened to resign if the city did not receive the funds needed to repair the town hall.
The mayors of Paris, Marseille and Lyon wrote a joint op-ed published by the newspaper Liberation that they were used to demonstrations and protests.
"But on Saturday ... for the first time, we had the feeling that whole sections of our cities had been left without protection," the mayors — all from the centre-left — said. "We now need to patch the wounds of our cities and face up to the anger of our residents, aghast at this level of violence," said joint op-ed.
The start of school holidays on Monday looked likely to hand the government some immediate relief, but students were staging more gatherings and blockades in some places, including the Louvre gallery and Sciences Po university in central Paris, Reuters reported.
Marseille, one of the cities worst hit by the riots, put in place a ban on gatherings and demonstrations. French unions meanwhile called for a new round of national strikes and demonstrations on November 5.
France deployed 60,000 police and other security forces on Saturday, Interior Minister Laurent Nunez told France Inter radio, but acknowledged that wasn't enough to control violent crowds in "certain cities".
Macron's office said on Monday that Nunez, a former Paris police chief, offered the president his resignation following the riots.
Macron refused, but urged Nunez to urgently come up with new concepts "to put an end to the barricades and looting," his office said.
It added that Nunez also needed to "ensure transparency regarding the failures in foresight and intelligence that led to the violence".
European governments have advised citizens travelling to France to avoid large crowds and exercise caution.