France counts the cost of its worst unrest in years: one protester dead, a record 855 arrests in Paris, and the national tallies still in dispute

By Sunday morning the marches were over and the counting had begun, and the counting itself became the argument. France is assessing the damage from Saturday, October 17, when a month of student protest over school conditions merged with unions, Yellow Vest veterans and a wider anger over prices and public services, and when parts of the day ended in rioting, arson and looting in cities across the country.

One protester is dead. Paris police said a demonstrator died after suffering a cardiac arrest during the demonstrations in Paris, Reuters reported. Police in the capital made a record 855 arrests, with arrests still being made until about 6 in the morning. The Paris prosecutor counts 517 people held in custody, including 171 minors.

The national numbers do not agree, and they are printed here as their sources give them. The government figure is 1,200 people arrested nationwide and 150 officers injured. Reuters, citing the interior minister, reports some 1,800 people detained across France and more than 500 officers injured. A further Reuters account of the same morning put police arrests above 2,000 and officer injuries above 600. The turnout figures conflict the same way. The government counted about 550,000 demonstrators nationwide. The organizers put the figure at more than 800,000. Each number above is as of October 18, and none of them has been reconciled by the authorities.

The damage is specific. Fire destroyed part of the city hall in Limoges, a building 143 years old. Marseille city hall was stormed on Saturday and a bust of Marianne toppled. The tourist office on Place Bellecour in Lyon was looted and burned. City halls in Lille and Grenoble were breached, and the prefect residence in Bordeaux was ransacked. Reuters reported several hundred shops damaged, with luxury boutiques and supermarkets looted and police vehicles attacked. Cleanup crews were at work on Sunday from Lille to Marseille, Strasbourg to Bordeaux.

The human cost runs in both directions and both parts are on the record. In Saint Etienne, the protester who lost his hand on Saturday is 17 years old. At least 24 complaints of police violence are under investigation. Justice Minister Gerald Darmanin has instructed prosecutors to seek pretrial detention for those arrested. Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu called it a miracle the toll was not heavier, and the mayors of Paris, Marseille and Lyon have asked him for a meeting. President Macron, who on Saturday night promised that those who attacked prefectures, looted businesses and broke into town halls will be prosecuted and punished, is scheduled to address the nation at 8 in the evening on Sunday.

The government blames hard left and ultra left groups, and criminals, for the violence. What is not in dispute is the scale of the day itself: more than half a million people in the streets, a death in the capital, a burned city hall, and a country whose government and whose streets are giving different numbers for the same night.

The picture with this story is an illustration, not a photograph.