Limoges Town Hall largely destroyed by fire during French cost-of-living riots

Right · 2The historic Town Hall of Limoges, central France, was largely destroyed by fire on Saturday 17 October 2026 after rioters set it alight during demonstrations in the city. 1 2 Right · 2The building dated from 1883, was designed as a Neo-Renaissance homage to Paris's Hôtel de Ville, and was listed as a historic monument in 1975. 2 1 Right · 1Prefect Maurice Barate told AFP the roof had collapsed onto lower floors except in the west wing and two-thirds of the exterior had gone; he called it "a deliberate act by hooligans" and a "catastrophe for heritage". 1

Right · 1Breitbart reported that images on social media showed the building's tower collapsing, and cited local newspaper Le Populaire du Centre, which quoted a City Hall source as saying the rioters entered through a cellar door beneath the council chamber and reportedly threatened to kill those inside. 2 Right · 1Limoges prosecutor Emilie Abrantes said police had made "more than 15 arrests" over the fire and the riots, which also saw six police cars burned and several city-centre businesses looted; she promised a "very firm response". 2 Right · 1The unrest is part of protests that, according to Fox News, have entered a fourth week over the cost of living and education; Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez said about 400 people were arrested nationwide on Saturday as more than half a million people joined over 100 marches. 1

Right · 1Nuñez said masked groups also tried to break into city halls in Lille and Calais and a police station in Brest, with violence in Rennes, Toulouse, Montpellier, Grenoble and Paris, where police used tear gas and water cannon. 1 Right · 1President Emmanuel Macron wrote that there is "no place for violence in our republic" and that those who attacked prefectures and businesses and looted town halls would be prosecuted and punished. 1 Right · 2Nuñez blamed "extremely violent, radical far-left groups", and Limoges Mayor Guillaume Guérin also blamed the far left, saying the perpetrators were "very methodical, organised people" and criticising La France Insoumise, two of whose parliamentarians he said were present at the start of the demonstration. 1 2

Right · 1Guérin, holding a charred French flag, called the destruction "unacceptable, shameful" but said "the Republic will endure"; MEP Marion Maréchal called it a "terrible allegory of 10 years of Macronism". Whether LFI bears responsibility was asserted by critics in these reports, and no LFI response is given. 2