Widespread looting took place across the cities of Paris, Marseille and Lille, as well as other areas.
In Paris, protesters clashed with riot police, who turned tear gas and water cannon on the crowds. During the day, some groups lit fires in the street and torched vehicles. At least one restaurant was gutted by fire, and the BBC saw fighting breaking out among some of the groups.
Riot police were seen charging at one crowd in central Paris and hitting several people with batons.
Further south in Marseille, protesters broke into the city hall by using a metal fence as a battering ram. In Lille a McDonalds was set on fire, police said, and an Apple store in the city was broken into and looted.
Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu said 150 police officers were injured in the unrest.
On Sunday morning in Paris, residents surveyed the damage, which included the smashed glass frontages of designer stores including Ralph Lauren, Gucci and Versace.
Shopkeepers were out early with brooms, picking up large shards of glass as they began the clean-up. Rubbish trucks worked their way down some of the larger streets to clear some of the debris.
Many shops were daubed with graffiti, some reading “tax the rich” and “eat the rich.”
The BBC visited a clothes shop close to the Place de la République which had been ransacked, with piles of clothes and furniture scattered across the shop floor.
The shop’s distraught owner told the BBC he saw looters on the CCTV who were in the shop for just over an hour and a half, and that during that time he saw no police in the process.
The owner – who asked not to be identified – told the BBC he did not believe any of those who robbed the shop were genuine protesters against school conditions or the cost of living. He said the looters were taking advantage of the demonstrations.
CCTV footage shown on France’s Channel 2 shows groups of teenagers, mostly wearing masks, in a shop selling mobile phones helping themselves to items from the shelves.
