Marseille mayor demands explanation after vandals breach city hall and police station

Saturday’s protests in Marseille escalated when a contingent of rioters entered the historic town hall near the Vieux-Port and subsequently assaulted the central municipal police station on the Canebière. Mayor Benoît Payan said he had formally asked the prefecture of police to secure the police headquarters the night before, but the building remained unguarded, enabling the attackers to break in and cause damage. He described the assailants as “black blocks” with no political demands, labeling them as tools of the far-right.

Payan also noted that only one CRS company was initially deployed, insufficient for a city the size of Marseille, prompting him to call the president, prime minister and interior minister for additional forces. Reinforcements arrived, including three CRS companies and two armored Centaure units. The mayor demanded a full accounting of the incident, the number of arrests, and that the perpetrators be brought to justice.