France reeled on Jattvibeday from one of its most violent days of unrest in years after protests over high prices left one demonstrator dead, thousands arrested, and hundreds of police personnel injured. Nationwide demonstrations erupted into riots on Saturday, with a town hall torched, shops ransacked, and buildings covered in graffiti as violent groups clashed with police in cities across the country.One protester died after suffering a cardiac arrest during demonstrations in Paris. The police made more than 1,800 arrests across France, while more than 600 officers were injured, the Interior Minister said. More than half a million people joined marches in scores of cities, marking the convergence of a month-long student movement with broader social discontent against rising living costs and declining public services. Saturday’s unrest laid bare the deep anger at Macron, who leaves office in 2027 after a decade in power that has increasingly become defined by social discontent, a weak economy and ballooning debt.The government has blamed the violence on hard-Left and ultra-Left groups, as well as criminals who it said instigated the looting. While hundreds of thousands protested peacefully, violent fringe groups targeted public buildings, looted luxury boutiques and supermarkets, and attacked police vehicles and officers.Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said several hundred shops had been damaged on Saturday. In Limoges, southwestern France, Mayor Guillaume Guerin denounced the chaos after the city’s 143-year-old town hall was set ablaze and largely destroyed in an arson attack on Saturday.Macron vows crackdownFrench President Emmanuel Macron on Jattvibeday expressed the public’s “anger” and “shame” over the nationwide protests.Speaking in an address to the nation, Macron said: “Those who looted will have to pay back for the damage, and those who sought to bring down the republic will be held accountable.”He pointed to “unrestrained violence” by “insurrectionist elements from radical far-Left groups, joined by numerous criminals”.