French President Emmanuel Macron was out enjoying Céline Dion on Friday night as his country was heading toward one of its most violent days in years.
Macron and his wife Brigitte were filmed in a private box at Dion’s show at the Plenitude Arena in Nanterre on Friday, the second-to-last night of her residency.
Emmanuel Macron et Brigitte Macron assistent à l’avant-dernier concert parisien de Céline Dion à la Plénitude Arena. https://t.co/8qeQvh8CfF
— Paris Match (@ParisMatch) October 16, 2026
Less than 24 hours later, France was in flames.
Critics slammed Macron. Actor Dean Cain posted a Marie Antoinette jab on X: “Let them eat cake!”
“Nero fiddled while Rome burned,” another user wrote, adding that the Macrons went to a Céline Dion concert.
British activist Tommy Robinson went further, showing an activist throwing a chimney from a high roof, and writing, “In Paris, chimneys are smashed off and thrown off the roofs towards police. I’ll reiterate, there’ll be deaths, and it’s all on Macron.”
In Paris, chimneys are smashed off and thrown off the roofs towards police.
I'll reiterate, there'll be deaths, and it's all on Macron.
pic.twitter.com/sJca4biZae— Tommy Robinson 🇬🇧 (@TRobinsonNewEra) October 17, 2026
Masked mobs hijacked Saturday’s nationwide day of protest. They torched government buildings, looted shops and fought police from Paris to Marseille.
The worst damage was in Limoges. Rioters set a police car on fire outside the city’s 143-year-old town hall, a protected monument since 1975, then smashed their way in and set fires inside. The roof collapsed and the bell tower came down. The local prefect said the roof had caved in everywhere except for the west wing and that two-thirds of the exterior was already gone.
In Marseille, a crowd forced its way into City Hall. Some wore yellow vests and some carried Palestinian flags. They flipped tables, smashed a screen and knocked a bust of Marianne, the symbol of the French Republic, to the floor. Paris sent two extra riot police units to the port city.
Lyon’s tourist office was set on fire. Mobs looted stores and attacked police in Bordeaux and Lille.
In Paris, rioters climbed the Marianne statue at Place de la République and waved a French tricolor next to a Palestinian flag. Gangs broke away from the march route, threw up barricades around République and tried to push up the Champs-Élysées before police drove them back with tear gas. Video circulating online appeared to show a Dior boutique on Rue Saint-Honoré being looted.
By midnight, Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu had announced 1,200 arrests and 150 officers injured late Saturday. By Sunday, Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez had raised the toll to 1,800 arrests and more than 500 police, gendarmes and firefighters hurt. Lecornu blamed the ultra-left and said the French would have to choose their side. Nuñez put the turnout at 550,000 nationwide. Organizers claimed as many as 800,000.
Macron’s first public statement after the violence came late Saturday night on X.
“No room for violence in our Republic,” he wrote. He vowed that those who attacked prefectures, businesses and town halls “will be prosecuted and punished.”
The unrest started last month in high schools in the Paris suburbs, over teacher shortages and crumbling classrooms. It has grown into a nationwide revolt over living costs and austerity.
Macron’s handling of it has been criticized from the start. Earlier in the week, his spokeswoman said the president thought students had “legitimate concerns” but that these were being exploited for political purposes. Critics said he was talking about the crisis as if he had nothing to do with it.
Ten days ago, Macron also drew ridicule for knocking American free speech while his own streets were in chaos. Wikipedia co-founder Larry Sanger called him “an enormous fool.”
Macron is term-limited, and France votes for a new president in April and May 2027.
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