The bell tower of the city Hall, set on fire during the riots, collapsed in Limoges

As a result of the riots in Limoges (central France), a fire engulfed the city hall building, causing the bell tower to collapse, damaging the roof. Footage from the scene was shown by France 3 TV channel on October 17.

The fire started after radical groups entered the city hall and set fire to the premises on the ground floor. Then the attackers set fire to the cars parked nearby — later the cars exploded.

Firefighters spent about an hour trying to bring the fire under control, but the flames spread to the roof, and an hour later engulfed the bell tower. As a result, the burning structure tilted and broke through the central part of the roof. At the moment, firefighters are continuing to fight the fire.

The mayor of Limoges, Guillaume Guerin, sharply condemned the incident: according to him, there are no suitable words to express the degree of baseness of what happened, and for the country the situation is equivalent to chaos.

"There are no words to condemn what happened: it's so despicable. This is chaos for the country," said Limoges Mayor Guillaume Guerin.

He stated that the actions of the rioters indicate an intention to cause maximum damage — this is confirmed by the recordings from the surveillance cameras. The head of the commune intends to file a complaint and seek punishment for all those involved in the destruction of the architectural monument.

The historic City Hall, built in 1883 by architect Charles Alfred Leclair, has the status of a protected object in France.

Righteous anger: protests by French schoolchildren are getting out of control

Peaceful demonstrations turned into violent marches

On October 17, the French BFMTV channel reported that farmers, climate activists and former members of the Yellow Vests movement had joined large-scale protests by students and schoolchildren in France, and the total number of demonstrators exceeded 500 thousand people. It is also reported that French Prime Minister Sebastian Lecornu has headed an interagency crisis group at the Ministry of the Interior in connection with the urban riots that accompany demonstrations across France. Pogroms and arson attacks are taking place all over the country, accompanied by violence.