PARIS — President Emmanuel Macron turned down his interior minister's offer to resign on Monday, a day after a nationwide "day of mobilisation" over the cost of living and school conditions spiraled into looting, arson and clashes with police in cities across France.

More than half a million people joined Saturday's marches, which fused weeks of student and teacher protests over school conditions with a separate movement angry over rising prices, according to French authorities. By nightfall, demonstrations in Paris, Marseille, Lyon and smaller cities had turned violent. Looters hit shops in several cities, rioters set cars alight, and Limoges' city hall was set on fire. Marseille's prefecture banned daytime public gatherings in the city center as officials scrambled to regain control.

More than 2,300 arrests

The interior ministry's count put arrests at more than 2,300 nationwide, with some outlets citing figures closer to 2,400. Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez publicly admitted that police "lost control" during Saturday's unrest and offered to step down over the failure.

"POLICE LOST CONTROL."

Macron declined the offer. According to the French presidency, he asked Nuñez to stay in the post to preserve the chain of command over police and security forces, directing him instead to devise new tactics against looters and to be transparent about what intelligence and planning failures allowed Saturday's violence to spread so quickly. Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu has since called for curfews in the hardest-hit areas as authorities worked to restore calm.

A movement two months in the making

The unrest traces back to September 21, when students in deprived Paris neighborhoods began protesting teacher shortages and poor school conditions. The protests spread nationwide through October, drawing hundreds of thousands to the streets even before Saturday's cost-of-living marches merged with the schools movement — all set against a backdrop of Macron's government struggling to push through an austerity budget roughly six months before France's next presidential election.

Macron said he would hold meetings this week with protest groups over their demands, though no concessions have yet been announced. For now, the president is betting that keeping Nuñez in place is safer than a leadership shake-up in the middle of the crisis — a wager that will be tested the next time protesters take to the streets.