Limoges is in shock after its historic city hall was devastated by a massive fire on Saturday, October 17, when violence erupted at the end of a national demonstration against the rising cost of living. Videos shared widely online show the 43-meter belfry crashing down in flames, and the prefect of Haute-Vienne said the 19th-century building was largely lost, with the roof collapsed onto the lower floors and about two-thirds of the faรงade gone. The grand building, inaugurated in 1883 and inspired by the city hall of Paris, drew hundreds of stunned residents who watched the blaze in anger and disbelief. According to reports, a group of individuals smashed the windows, got inside, and set the building on fire, and the prefect called it a heritage catastrophe and a deliberate act by rioters. Four national police cars and two municipal police cars were also burned or badly damaged during the violence.

Prosecutor ร‰milie Abrantes opened a criminal investigation for destruction of property by dangerous means by an organized group, and 17 people, including seven minors, were in custody by Sunday morning after numerous arrests. Investigators are now working to determine who started the fire and exactly how it began, and officials have not publicly attributed it to any particular ideological group. Mayor Guillaume Guรฉrin, visibly shaken, said the building was very heavily damaged, and on Sunday he accused national police of lacking resources and falling back in the face of the rioters while demanding government funding to rebuild. The blaze stood out because it came on a day when more than 550,000 people reportedly marched across France, with Limoges suffering some of the most extreme violence. A march of local elected officials was planned for Sunday evening as the city begins asking how a landmark so central to its identity could be lost so fast.