"French Looters Organized via Social Media, Swarming in Groups of 50 to 200"

France, which experienced massive turmoil due to violent protests over the weekend, is making all-out efforts to track down those who committed arson, vandalism, and looting of facilities.

Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu stated in parliament on the 20th local time that "we have secured an enormous amount of evidence, images, and videos," adding that "much more arrests, including of thieves, are possible in the coming days," according to The Wall Street Journal.

In Paris alone, 200 investigators have been deployed to review security camera footage and videos posted on social media.

So far, about 2,500 people have been arrested across France.

Roughly 95% of them are male and 70% are adults.

Among the 30% who are minors, even 13-year-olds are included.

In addition, many are individuals already known to the police or judicial authorities.

On the 20th, suspects accused of looting stores appeared in courts across France.

They were arrested on charges of stealing luxury brands and sportswear products such as Louis Vuitton, Lacoste, and Nike.

The Paris court doubled the number of courtroom sessions handling summary trials that day.

About 40 hearings related to the violence were scheduled for the 20th alone.

This situation is adding pressure to France's already overloaded judicial system.

French authorities arrested a man on charges of setting fire to the Limoges city hall, and this suspect was reportedly linked to a far-left movement and had been under surveillance as a potential threat.

Justice Minister Gérald Darmanin said in an interview with France's CNEWS that the backgrounds of those involved in these protests are diverse, noting that there were both immigrants and French nationals.

Police union spokesperson Jean-Christophe Coube said, "It is a diverse mix," adding that "there are undocumented immigrants, young people with jobs, and minors."

Among some of the suspects whose identities were disclosed by Minister Darmanin on the 19th were a 46-year-old who vandalized a clothing store and stole clothes, a 19-year-old young man who hid in the fitting room of a looted store, and a 34-year-old recidivist who resisted before being caught.

As French authorities stepped up crackdowns with measures such as a nighttime curfew and the streets became calmer, details are gradually emerging about how the violence unfolded and why the police struggled to stop it.

Prime Minister Lecornu said the violent protesters used a strategy of catching police off guard.

Normally, violence breaks out as protests intensify toward the end, but this time they attacked police officers and government buildings from the very beginning, even before the protests started.

Authorities failed to anticipate the scale of these protests and deployed insufficient police forces, allowing other groups to target stores for looting while police were tied down dealing with violent protesters.

Circumstances continuously emerge indicating that a significant number of looters acted in an organized manner.

Prime Minister Lecornu stated that these groups included young adults and teenagers, some of whom were already known to the police, had no political motives, and were organized via social media.

Police union spokesperson Coube said some looters scoped out the area on scooters before calling others, stating, "They swarmed in groups of 50, 100, and up to 200, completely ransacked stores, and vanished in an instant."
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.