France investigates attempted murder after firebomb attack on police in Paris

French prosecutors announced an attempted murder investigation on Sunday, November 1, after petrol bombs were hurled at security forces during demonstrations in Paris. Footage showing an officer engulfed in flames prompted outrage following a third consecutive weekend of protests over rising living costs and worsening public services.

Hundreds of thousands of people demonstrated on Saturday, with clashes breaking out in the capital and other French cities. The Paris police prefecture said several hundred rioters attacked security personnel with projectiles, including a Molotov cocktail. Images and video captured a homemade incendiary device bursting at the feet of an officer wearing protective equipment, setting his lower body alight.

The prosecutor’s office said the inquiry concerned attempted murder targeting people exercising public authority. It said explosive devices had been thrown at approximately 15 gendarmes, military police who belong to France’s armed forces, as well as police officers. Authorities were still assessing the injuries, which prosecutors said included second-degree burns.

Speaking anonymously to broadcaster RTL, the gendarme seen being struck described his unit coming under attack from glass bottles, paving stones, broken glass and firebombs. He said several substantial incendiary devices hit the unit and described feeling a greasy, flammable substance spread over his skin as he wondered when the burning sensation would end.

The officer sustained minor injuries but said protective equipment covering his legs and shins had melted. RTL reported that the gendarmerie said 13 members of his unit were injured. Prosecutors said nobody had yet been arrested in connection with the incident and that investigators were trying to establish who was responsible.

Across France, more than 770 people were arrested, according to the interior ministry. It also reported injuries to 159 law enforcement personnel during the protests and Halloween celebrations. The figures covered those events nationally, while the investigation announced on Sunday focused on the attack on security forces in Paris.

The rioting was less extensive than the unrest two weeks earlier, which had been among France’s worst in years. Nevertheless, Interior Minister Laurent Nunez described the violence committed by some participants on Saturday as “extraordinary”.

The demonstrations unfolded amid political tensions, with the presidential election six months away. Marine Le Pen, the far-right frontrunner and leader of the National Rally party, has promised to restore law and order if elected next year. In a post on X, she demanded that those behind the firebomb attack be punished with the greatest severity.