Thousands arrested after violent unrest roils France

Nearly 2,400 people were arrested in France on Saturday after long-simmering protests exploded into some of the country’s most disruptive unrest in years. French President Emmanuel Macron said that the violence was cause for “ anger and shame,” after rioters ransacked hundreds of shops following mass demonstrations in Paris. Government buildings were vandalized in multiple cities, contributing to a sense of national crisis that could boost leading far-right presidential candidate Marine Le Pen six months before elections. The unrest renders an unfavorable verdict on Macron, Le Monde wrote, who once promised “ social emancipation ” but has been deserted by young voters amid “deteriorating public finances, slower economic growth, and rising unemployment.” The protests mark “ the twilight of Macronism,” the left-wing economist Thomas Piketty argued.