PARIS, October 18. /TASS/. France’s National Rally party leader Jordan Bardella has demanded President Emmanuel Macron step down amid the riots raging in the country since October 17.

"This evening, I expect Macron to apologize and leave," he wrote.

He called what is happening in the country "a humiliation for France." "We are paying the price for decades of complacency, the loss of the government’s authority, and the moral and material weakening of our internal security forces. Now we must wake up and make the right political choice," he emphasized.

A series of mass protests against rising fuel prices and the declining purchasing power of the population took place all over France on October 17. According to the organizers, some 800,000 people took part in the protests. Meanwhile, the interior ministry put the number of protesters at 550,000. In a number of cities, the protests have escalated into riots and clashes with police. According to Interior Minister Laurent Nunez, more than 2,000 protesters have been detained across the country. He pledged that the authorities will continue persecuting plunders and looters.