French prosecutors have opened a formal attempted murder investigation following a violent weekend protest in Paris that saw security forces targeted with petrol bombs, leaving multiple officers injured and sparking widespread public outrage over dramatic footage of an officer engulfed in flames.
The inquiry, announced by the prosecutor’s office on Sunday, follows a weekend of nationwide demonstrations that marked the third consecutive weekend of unrest across France over soaring living costs and deteriorating public services. Hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets in Paris and other cities on Saturday, leading to intense clashes between rioters and law enforcement.
Footage and photographs shared widely from the demonstrations captured the moment a homemade incendiary device exploded directly at the feet of a security officer in protective gear, wrapping his lower body in sudden flames. The Paris police prefecture reported that several hundred rioters attacked security personnel with various projectiles, culminating in the deployment of Molotov cocktails.
“Explosive devices were thrown at around 15 gendarmes as well as police officers,” the prosecutor’s office stated, specifying that military police units belonging to the French armed forces were among those targeted. While overall rioting proved less widespread than severe unrest witnessed two weeks prior, Interior Minister Laurent Nunez characterized the level of violence exhibited by certain agitators as “extraordinary” during a Saturday briefing.
Authorities reported that injury assessments remained ongoing, with confirmed casualties including at least second-degree burns. Speaking anonymously to broadcaster RTL, the targeted gendarme described how his unit came under heavy assault from glass bottles, paving stones, shards of glass, and firebombs.
“We were hit by several significant incendiary devices,” the officer recounted. Describing the terrifying moments after the explosion, he added, “The flammable substance was so greasy that I could feel it spreading across my skin. I kept wondering when it would stop because I really felt as though I had been coated by the heat itself.”
Despite sustaining minor injuries—noting that the plastic protective gear on his legs and shins had melted from the intense heat—the officer walked away. The gendarmerie confirmed that 13 members of his specific unit sustained injuries during the clashes.
As of Sunday, the prosecutor’s office confirmed that no suspects had been arrested in connection with the firebomb attack, though investigators were actively working to identify those responsible. Nationwide, the interior ministry reported more than 770 arrests alongside a total of 159 law enforcement officers injured during the protests and concurrent Halloween celebrations.
The violent episodes have heightened an already tense political atmosphere in France, arriving just six months ahead of presidential elections. Marine Le Pen, leader of the far-right National Rally party and a leading candidate in early polling who has campaigned heavily on restoring law and order, took to social media to demand severe legal consequences for those involved, posting on X that the perpetrators must be “punished with the utmost severity.”
