The mayor of Limoges has called for a “Notre-Dame plan” to restore the town hall which was torched by French rioters On Saturday, the 19th-century neo-Renaissance building, which had survived two world wars, was set ablaze in nationwide demonstrations that brought together the Yellow Vest and student movements. Protesters marching against the rising cost of living, the state of public high schools and the erosion of public services in France turned violent and saw government buildings raided and torched.

On Sunday, Guillaume Guérin, the city’s Republican mayor, threatened to resign with his entire city council within 24 hours if the government did not agree to restore the building and provide concrete rebuilding plans.

Limoges town hall survived two world wars but was destroyed in an arson attack on Saturday night Credit AFP via Getty Images/Melanie Payzal“I want us to have the same capacity to rebuild as was given to Notre-Dame de Paris” Mr Guérin told local media Ici Limoges. “I want to see a rain of millions on the city.”

The Limoges mayor lashed out at the government, which he said had abandoned the city and criticised police for what he called their “insufficient” response. “The problem is that by 3.30 pm the police had run out of ammunition. Faced with them, the Republican police retreated. If we’d had the means to contain them on the boulevard, they would never have made it this far. The government has abandoned us.”

Footage captured the moment the Limoges clock tower collapsed in a blaze, a scene reminiscent of the fall of the Notre-Dame de Paris spire in 2019. “It felt like I was watching the footage of Notre-Dame on TV all over again, but this time it was right next to my home,” local woman Martine told Le Figaro.

“I’ve known this town hall my whole life. I even know people who got married there. It’s terrible that things have come to this over these demands.”Architect Jean-Charles is one of the residents who has sentimental ties to the town hall: “Last night, I was there, in tears. Eleven years ago to the day, I married my wife in this town hall,” he told Le Parisien.

The protests were among France’s most violent in years raising questions about the government and police preparations and response.

French intelligence underestimated the revolt by nearly threefold, projecting 190,000 protesters around the country: an estimated 550,000 people showed up.

A firefighting truck next to the burnt and largely destroyed Limoges town hall on Sunday morning Reuters/Clotaire Achi The mayor of Marseille also criticised the interior minister, Laurent Nunez, for sending one mobile unit of riot police to the second-largest city in France.

“I’m not going to leave things as they are. I want to know what happened. I want to know why, in this city, people were able to break things with impunity,” the mayor, Benoît Payan, said. In Marseille, a police station and the town hall were targeted by rioters on Saturday. Mr Nunez denied that the city was under-policed and said it was a matter of duty scheduling.

Paris was the hardest-hit city, with videos capturing hooded, masked rioters using barricades and brute force to break into shops, raid and ransack luxury goods, mobile phones, food and pharmaceutical goods.

Residents in Limoges survey the damage the morning after the riots The day after, Parisians were seen making pilgrimages around some of the major flashpoints from Saturday’s riots and looting posting selfies beside the burnt-out carcasses of torched cars and snapping photos of mangled cash machines, or the remains of alcohol stores that had been ransacked of booze.

City streets were littered with shattered glass requiring dog owners to carry their pets rather than walk them on a leash.

Rubbish, discarded masks, and vials of single-use eyedrops that were used to soothe tear-gassed eyes were strewn across the main protest site Place de la République, where a fresh round of clashes between police and youth broke out Sunday afternoon.

“I want to burst into tears right now, seeing the damage,” said Gaëlle, 56, an assistant professor visiting Paris from the Centre-Val-de-Loire region to visit her 19-year-old son. “We have a polarised society it’s the failure of decades of under-investment in the suburbs. We’ve failed.”But alongside gutted, ransacked shops were also scenes of regular Parisians taking to the streets with their own garbage bags, broomsticks and pans to clean up the debris in their neighbourhoods.

Léa, 19, came to check on her family’s Vietnamese restaurant near Place de la République, after being forced to close because of the protests and tear gas which infiltrated the restaurant.

While the restaurant was spared, she and her mother and 13-year-old brother stumbled on Luca, 28, who was trying to clear the street Chateau d’Eau of debris that had been set on fire by rioters. ‘It’s just unacceptable, it’s awful’“The people who work in these businesses don’t earn that much either. And on top of that, it’s us who has to clean up, it’s not even them,” Léa told The Telegraph.

“We took a look around the République area and it’s just unacceptable, it’s awful. We’re here to help. It’s only natural to help.”Saphia, 56, who works in the restaurant industry, had also joined Luca and Léa’s family in the spontaneous clean-up, and said though she supported the protests, the violence was unacceptable.

“It was horrific, a nightmare. It was like something out of a vampire or zombie movie,” she said. “Some restaurants and shops were trashed and they had nothing to do with this. These people work hard. They get up in the morning and put in a full day’s work.

I’m all for protests but not when it involves destroying the workplaces of people who are just trying to earn a living.”Luca, who lives in the area, had attended the protest before rioters and agitators turned what he called a “peaceful, joyful” event into chaos and set fire to his neighbourhood.

The next morning, he brought out his broom and set to work, bringing together a group of strangers who would otherwise probably have never met, to clean up the city destroyed by rioters.

“I came back in the streets and started cleaning and I was alone. Then two people, then three people, then five people started moving things to help the city cleaners and the city of Paris and show that we support one another.”