France's President Emmanuel Macron has condemned the "failures in anticipation and intelligence" by French authorities, the Elysee Palace said Monday, after nationwide cost-of-living protests were marred by violence, France 24 reports.
Despite the failures, Macron has refused the resignation of Interior Minister Laurent Nunez, the presidential palace added.
Macron and his government are under pressure from opposition politicians, who have called for Nunez to be removed, after mass rallies on Saturday over the rising cost of living and high fuel costs turned violent.
In some of the worst urban violence France has seen in years, nearly 2,400 people were arrested, while almost 1,000 police and gendarmes (French armed police) were injured, the Interior Ministry said Sunday.
Nunez on Monday admitted that police across the country had "lost control" of the situation over the weekend.
As tens of thousands of people took to streets across the country to protest rising costs and social inequality, crowds of mostly masked and mostly male youths clashed with police, looting shops and torching public and private property, including the historic Limoges city hall.
