Police in Paris said Sunday they had arrested a “record” 855 people over protest violence in the capital the day before, with the prosecutor’s office saying more than 500 were being held in custody.
The capital, and many other French cities, on Saturday experienced clashes between police and protesters, multiple street blazes and widespread looting.
Paris’s deputy mayor Lamia El Aaraje said the capital had been hit by “a level of violence that I believe we had never seen before.”
The Paris prosecutor’s office said that, of those in custody, 346 were adults and 171 were minors, for a total of 517. It added that the numbers were provisional and could change.
Most of the arrests were for receiving stolen goods, association with intent to commit violence, and vandalism, it said.
