Left-wing suspect arrested after 19th century French city hall torched in riots

For some French Jews, Saturday's unrest brought an unsettling warning: conceal outward signs of Jewish identity and avoid gathering outside synagogues. 

One community member told Fox News Digital that some congregations had even canceled afternoon prayers on the Sabbath as demonstrations across France descended into violence.

Ahead of the protests on Saturday, he said, as a precaution, "Lots of synagogues sent out emails to their people saying, 'We're canceling Mincha on Shabbat afternoon. Please don't go out. It's going to be dangerous,'" Samuel Arrouas, a French Jewish community member who divides his time between Paris and Israel, told Fox News Digital.

Mincha is the Jewish afternoon prayer service. Arrouas, who returned to Israel before Saturday's protests, described his shock over the messages. "I'm 40 years old. First time I heard this," he said.

Arrouas said warnings also advised Jews against visibly wearing kippahs, traditional skullcaps, or tzitzit, ritual fringes worn by observant Jewish men. Worshipers were discouraged from lingering outside synagogues after services. "You go to prayers, and you immediately leave," he said.

Before leaving France, Arrouas said he encountered masked demonstrators carrying Palestinian flags near Paris Dauphine University.

"It's very scary," he said. "When you're Jewish and you pass in front of such a scene, the only thing you want to do is just get away."

The concerns emerged as approximately 550,000 people demonstrated across France on Oct. 17 against rising fuel prices, the cost of living and deteriorating public services, including schools. The demonstrations were masked rioters clashed with police, looted businesses and set fire to vehicles and buildings in Paris, Marseille and other cities. France's Interior Ministry reported approximately 2,400 arrests.

Marseille Mayor Benoit Payan announced Tuesday that a curfew will be in effect starting tonight following "episodes of violence" over the weekend.

"I have taken note of the Prefect's decision to impose a curfew in Marseille, starting this evening and for the days to come," Payan wrote on X. "This measure applies solely to minors, and exclusively to the commercial areas of our city, which were particularly affected by the looting that occurred this weekend and which would be threatened if we were to experience further episodes of violence.

"This decision, while it may provide relief to businesses and facilitate the work of law enforcement, must be accompanied by a sufficient deployment of police forces across the entire city, so that Marseille no longer suffers the acts of violence, destruction, and vandalism that we have known," he added.

U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz told "Fox & Friends" on Tuesday that Europe has to "make a right turn" or else more cities will face protests like the ones happening in France. 

"You're seeing a culmination of all of these movements that see an opportunity now to sow chaos, to sow disorder, and to push their leftist agenda," Waltz said. "And so it's a marriage of convenience. They don't agree on all things. But they are pushing hard and France is just the first to fall." 

"I mean, this is the culmination of open borders, out of control debt, a defunct education system and a soft on crime, soft on rule of law approach from the progressive left in Europe that the president's been warning about, the vice president has been warning about and others for many years. And we are seeing a tragic, sad culmination," Waltz also said. 

"Europe has to make a right turn or more European cities are going to look like this. And we see this at the U.N. all the time, Brian, where they're talking about these wide-open progressive policies and trying to impose them on the world," he added. 

"The European Union has migration quotas that it tries to impose on a number of these countries," Waltz said. "It hasn't worked, will not work, and isn't working right now." 

Two days after an estimated 500,000 demonstrators poured into streets across France and clashes left parts of Paris and other cities burning, French activists are calling supporters back into the streets Saturday, Oct. 24, for a new protest billed as "Acte II," with 212 "mobilizations" currently planned, according to a digital map of the plans.

And a growing number of communist, socialist and hard-leftist organizations are answering another call for a coordinated European youth strike on Friday, Nov. 20.

A Fox News Digital investigation has now identified 101 organizations across 13 countries — including the U.S. — that are coordinating, organizing or amplifying protests in Europe in an expanding protest ecosystem, up from 54 organizations identified on Monday.

Most of the groups are adult-led, with just 33 organizations — or one in three — led by students or youth. They represent a nexus of the "red-green" alliance, merging Islamist organizations that are symbolized by the color green, and far-left, communist and socialist groups represented by the color red.

The network also include groups that proudly use the "Antifa" moniker, like "Action AntiFa16," an organization that describes itself in the Angoulême, France, Acte II announcement.

French Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu said Tuesday that curfews that were imposed in parts of Paris and other cities following days of unrest have helped keep the peace overnight.

"Targeted curfews have contributed to the calm of this night. I thank the police officers and gendarmes who ensured their enforcement, as well as the prefects for their mobilization," he wrote on X.

"Tonight, new curfews will be decided where the situation requires it. These decisions will be made on the ground, by the prefects, in coordination with the mayors," he added.

In an Oct. 19 security alert from the U.S. Embassy in Paris, the embassy cited media reports that the prime minister’s office introduced partial curfews for Monday and Tuesday in several cities, including Lille. 

Americans were urged to avoid demonstration areas and exercise caution if they unexpectedly encounter large gatherings. 

Fox News Digital's Stepheny Price contributed to this post. 

There are concerns in the United Kingdom that the violent protests that have rocked France could spread over the English Channel, according to a report from GB News. 

The website reported that posters are circulating on social media calling for demonstrations to take place in London this upcoming weekend. 

One poster reportedly calls for demonstrations against rent prices, university tuition fees and youth unemployment. 

Another poster contained the message "Don't call us the future if you refuse to invest in us." 

"The scenes of violence and looting we have seen in France and across Europe are deeply shocking," Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp told the Daily Express. 

"The Conservative Party supports the right to free speech and peaceful protest," he added. "However, any attempt by extreme left-wing groups to replicate this chaos in Britain should be met with the full force of the law." 

President Donald Trump pointed to the ongoing riots in France during his Wichita, Kansas, rally Monday, warning supporters that the destruction should serve as a wake-up call ahead of the midterm elections.

“If you want to see what is at stake in this election, just look at what’s happening in France,” Trump said.

The president blamed migrants, jihadists and communists for the violence, accusing European left-wing leaders of pursuing immigration policies that undermined their countries.

“We’re not going to let that happen to this country,” he said.

Trump said he had warned French President Emmanuel Macron years ago to tighten border controls.

“Close your border or you will lose France,” Trump recalled telling him.

He urged European countries to close their borders and remove people who hate their adopted countries, while arguing that his administration’s immigration crackdown had protected the United States.

“They’re losing their country, they’re losing Europe,” Trump said. “That’s never happening to the United States of America.”

Trump closed the remarks by accusing Democrats of seeking a similar future for Americans.

“When you see burning steeples and raging fires in France, just remember that is what the radical Democrats wanna do to America,” he said.

Fox News chief political analyst Brit Hume criticized French President Emmanuel Macron’s response to ongoing riots Monday, saying a leader should stay home “when your country’s on fire.”

Appearing on “Special Report,” Hume drew a sharp distinction between the unrest and the school protests that preceded it.

“This isn’t a student protest. This is a riot and an absolute orgy of destruction, and it is outrageous, I think, to most people,” he said.

Hume said the curfew measures were overdue before taking aim at Macron’s travel to the Middle East.

“Now look, what’s going on in the Middle East is very important. But when your country’s on fire, you don’t leave,” he said. “So he’s kind of an example of what not to do.”

Asked whether the violence could influence American voters ahead of the midterms, Hume said similar scenes in the United States could change the political atmosphere.

“But if it doesn’t spread here, and we don’t begin to see this here, I’m not sure how much of an effect it will have on this election,” he said.

Yesterday's Fox News Digital live blog offers additional coverage of the riots in France.

Police in France have arrested a 40-year-old suspect after rioters broke into and set fire to a historic 19th-century city hall in the city of Limoges over the weekend, causing its roof to collapse, reports said. 

A police source told the Le Figaro newspaper that the individual taken into custody is a "far-left activist" who was already on a French security watchlist. 

The man previously has been known to law enforcement for acts of "violence against a person in a position of public authority," the source added. 

The Limoges Town Hall was built in 1883, and was made a historic landmark in 1975. 

"The roof has collapsed onto lower floors, except the west wing, and two-thirds of the exterior has already disappeared," the local prefect, Maurice Barate, told the AFP news agency. 

Barate called it "a deliberate act by hooligans," adding that it was a "catastrophe for heritage."  

The destruction came as far-left anti-government protests and violent clashes entered their fourth week in the European country over the cost of living. 

Fox News Digital's Brie Stimson and Eric Mack contributed to this post.