The French president, Emmanuel Macron, has decided not to accept the resignation submitted by his Minister of the Interior, Laurent Nuñez, after the protests and episodes of violence in recent days. Instead, he has urged him to implement "as soon as possible" what he has described as "new modes of action" against "the rioters."
From the Élysée, it has been clarified that Macron has chosen to reject Nuñez's resignation due to "the need for a continuous command of the law enforcement forces in the current context," although the presidential palace also emphasizes the importance of ensuring "transparency" in light of the "failures in forecasting and intelligence information" detected in the recent mobilizations, according to the French newspaper 'Le Monde.'
The Interior Minister himself has confirmed during the day that he offered his position to the head of state. "I am responsible for everything that is happening on the ground," he stated in an interview with the broadcaster France Inter, where he expressed his regret for the "looting" that occurred in several cities on Saturday.
"In the interest of the general public, and given the damage caused, it was logical to submit my resignation. Now, the fundamental question is to ensure that this does not happen again," Nuñez has maintained, admitting that "it is evident" that the authorities "must improve their ability to anticipate mobilizations of this nature."
The minister has detailed that "we had forecasts about the participation in these demonstrations, which took place across the national territory, and the final figure was 550,000 people," before recalling that official estimates pointed to "just over 200,000" attendees. "There were two and a half times more people," the Interior Minister emphasized.
In this context, he admitted that the police deployment was overwhelmed "in certain places" by the magnitude of the protest, which included "both demonstrators who were part of the usual marches and rioters, looters, and far-left militants," which "caused the situation to deteriorate."
Nuñez has also emphasized that the security forces "must modify intervention doctrines to confront extremely mobile groups" and has stressed that "serious overflow occurred." As he described, "in certain situations, an asymmetry arose. The vandals dispersed into multiple varied groups and showed great aggressiveness, attacking businesses and spreading across various cities." "It was, indeed, an extremely difficult situation to manage. I acknowledge this very willingly," he concluded.
Meanwhile, French authorities have denounced the "disorder" and the wave of violence that accompanied the massive demonstrations on Saturday in the main cities of the country, called to denounce the degradation of public education, the high cost of living, and police violence in recent weeks. The official government balance stands at almost 2,400 detained and more than 500 agents injured.