Macron's interior minister offers resignation after saying authorities 'lost control' of cities

After a devastating weekend that capped off weeks of rioting, French officials have begun handing in their resignations. The City Hall in Limoges was burned to the ground, 1,500 shops were smashed into and looted, private homes were menaced and cars were torched, as over half a million people took to the streets waving Palestinian flags and pretending to demand better standards of education.

Authorities in France had no idea the turnout would be so massive. President Emmanuel Macron, who was dancing with his wife Brigitte at a Celine Dion concert as his nation burned, called for a security review. Government officials all noted fully that police, of which there were 60,000 nationwide, had "lost control" of the crowds and mayhem amid 110 marches and demonstrations on Saturday.

"We unquestionably failed," said Justice Minister Gérald Darmanin.

France's Interior Ministry, headed by Minister Laurent Nuñez, had only anticipated 200,000, and organizers of the demonstrations that led to riots, some 54 Marxist, communist, and Muslim groups, claimed that there were 800,000 people in the streets. Almost 1,000 officers and first responders were injured in the violence and 2,400 people were arrested.

"Yes," Nuñez said, "Saturday, in certain large cities, we lost control." He said that his agency had a "lack of anticipation" as regards the massive crowds. But it wasn't just the sheer number of people that the Ministry had underestimated, Nuñez said, but the violence that was enacted by the groups that sought to exploit the civil unrest. Nuñez attempted to resign, but Macron wouldn't have it.

The rioters wore masks as they honed in on 3,000 shops and businesses to cause expensive damage, in many cases, obliterating a small shopkeeper's entire life's work. Looters were able to rampage like proverbial foxes in hen houses as officers were kept busy by large riots.

The rumblings of violence had been building since the protests began in September with high schoolers demanding better conditions for education amid France's welfare state-driven rising debt crisis. Those high schoolers were quickly joined by groups that sought destruction, such as communist, socialist and Muslim groups that represent the Middle Eastern and North African migrants in the nation.

Violence soon followed and the groups got out of hand, setting fire to cars, to schools, and assaulting bystanders. Arrests were made but France's federal authorities were still taken by surprise when extreme violence and property damage came to fruition.

In his Sunday night speech condemning the violence, his ears likely still ringing from the Celine Dion concert, Macron blamed everything but the excesses of liberalism and mass migration. He didn't blame the combination of the welfare state and open borders, instead, he blamed President Trump for the high cost of fuel due to the war in Iran. He said the government should listen to the grievances of those who were out in the streets rioting, stealing Rolex watches, tearing apart Christian Dior.

Macron called for calm ahead of the coming election, 6 months down the road. Macron's opposition, Marine Le Pen and the National Rally, are gaining steam as the French government cannot control or manage the nation. Another strike is being planned for November 20, only this time it is organized across Europe.