France’s Prime Minister called for a social media blackout before another day of mass protests, blaming platforms for helping unrest spread. Nearly 1,000 arrests have already been made, with around 70,000 French police officers deployed to tackle violent unrest on French streets. In a letter to telecommunications companies first reported by Blast, Sébastien Lecornu urged Orange, SFR, Free and Bouygues Telecom to impose a social media blackout in the event of “urban violence”. The government specifically wanted Snapchat, TikTok and Instagram shut down, and local media later reported that Elon Musk-owned X was added after the letter was sent. Lecornu said “a convergence of several protest and activist movements” led to the scenes seen on Saturday, with individuals “took advantage of the resulting disorder to smash, damage, set fire to, ransack and loot”. The protests began as a student-led movement demanding more investment in education, but they spread beyond Paris, and unrest hit other countries too. Authorities in Italy, Spain and Albania reported arrests amid violent disturbances. In Italy, police detained 371 people, and nine were arrested. In Spain, 100 people were arrested in Barcelona after hooded rioters looted shops and set fire to street furniture around Plaza de Catalunya, with about a quarter of those detained described as minors. In Albania, videos showed an officer being set on fire after what appeared to be a Molotov cocktail during protests calling for the resignation of the Prime Minister. Riot police said rioters set government buildings and banks on fire, smashed shop windows and pulled up paving stones to hurl at police. For now, the latest verified status is that arrests have been made across the countries, with numbers detained and arrested reported, while further action by authorities is ongoing.