Masked groups set fire to the town hall in Limoges, an ornate 19th-century neo-Renaissance building that had survived two world wars. The fire ravaged the clock tower, and the attack was termed a heritage catastrophe.
The groups overpowered the local police and used a battering ram to break down the main door. A shocked resident asked, “What kind of a country are we living in?”
The same account describes wanton damage to public and private property across France. Protesters ransacked luxury stores and ran out with merchandise, while looters torched cars. It said no heritage building was being spared, including the Louvre, and that police were outnumbered.