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President Emmanuel Macron has embarked on a visit to Kuwait as the French government continues to deal with the aftermath of this weekend's violence.

It was not clear on Sunday whether the French president would continue with the trip, but he confirmed it would go ahead during an address yesterday evening.

"I've taken a number of initiatives on an international level in order to ensure that we have fuel and gas and will continue to do so by visiting the Gulf countries in order to secure our supply," he said during his 10-minute speech.

Macron will spend three days in the Gulf, having arrived in Kuwait this morning. He will then visit the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Bahrain and Qatar before returning to France on Wednesday.

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This weekend's violence demonstrates a "failure" by the security services to deal with threats posed by the far-left, Justice Minister Gérald Darmanin says.

"We need to know what went wrong,” he tells local broadcaster France 2 TV, adding: "Clearly, it [the security service] is not tackling the far-left effectively."

The justice minister has also expressed his support for Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez, after the president declined his resignation this morning.

Darmanin adds that he is happy to continue working with Nuñez, who is a "great" interior minister.

In France, Macron is widely viewed as a lame-duck presidentpublished at 08:13 BST

08:13 BST

Katya Adler
Europe editor, reporting from Paris

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Macron is widely viewed here as a lame-duck president. He is on his way out.

There's a hotly-contested race under way to become his successor, with the vote scheduled in around six months' time.

The presidential candidate from the anti-immigration nationalist right (Marine Le Pen) and also the anti-capitalist left (Jean-Luc Melenchon) are vying to make headlines.

This is adding to current tensions in France - in politics as well as on the streets. Parliament here is paralysed, deeply divided between three vying political blocks.

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"There's normally a bit of a pattern to this," Paris-based journalist Francis Collings tells BBC Breakfast.

"What goes on is a fairly party atmosphere initially. People are protesting, they're enjoying themselves, there's often music playing, and then it gets taken over."

Collings says this has become evident in the last few years, dating back to the gilet jaunes (yellow vest) movement in 2018, which demonstrated against cost-of-living hikes for more than a year.

"But the theory put forward by the government - which doesn't seem to be disagreed with - is this is something where protesters have legitimate concerns, but it's taken over by what the government describes as the far-left and criminals," he continues.

"We've almost got three elements to this," Collings says. "The peaceful protesters, those who want to cause mayhem, and those who want to loot and set things on fire."

He notes that French President Emmanuel Macron is in the final six months of his tenure, adding: "Arguably, the election campaign for next May has started on the streets of France."

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French authorities say there were 350 arrests in Paris on Sunday and in the early hours of Monday.

Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez says police 'lost control" of protests in some cities over the weekend, according to the AFP news agency.

Nuñez also says there had been a "lack of anticipation" ahead of the violence and that he offered his resignation to Emmanuel Macron because he "felt responsible for everything that happened".

Macron has not accepted the resignation.

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The unrest across France escalated at the weekend with authorities estimating that more than half a million people took to the streets over poor conditions in schools and the rising cost of living.

Some protests descended into rioting, with an estimated 1,500 shops and businesses looted and destroyed - so how did it reach this point?

In the middle of September students in Paris began protesting about education standards, such as dilapidated school buildings and teacher shortages.

The discontent spread to other French cities and some of it turned violent. On 5 October, a 15-year-old boy had his hand blown off during a confrontation between police and demonstrators.

Hundreds of thousands of people from broader sections of French society, including teachers, pensioners and unions, have been drawn into demonstrations, the majority of which have been peaceful.

Some parts of France have seen the resurgence of the yellow vest movement, which has previously demonstrated against economic inequality.

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An emergency meeting is also being held in Italy today after protesters and police clashed in Milan over the weekend.

More than 5,000 people gathered to protest rising costs.

Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who is holding the meeting, said that "hooligans" had exploited the protests to "sow chaos".

Police deployed water canons and tear gas after demonstrators threw paving stones, bins and chairs at officers.

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French Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu will hold a crisis cabinet meeting today to address the weekend's unrest.

The meeting is expected to begin at 10am local time (9am BST) and will focus on the economy, insurance and law enforcement in the aftermath of the violence.

Elsewhere, a group of mayors will gather outside local town halls at noon to denounce "serious attacks against democratic institutions".

The French government has been under pressure after violent scenes played out across the country over the weekend, with opposition politicians calling on Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez to resign.

Nuñez attempted to resign on Sunday, Emmanuel Macron's office says, but the president told him to stay as there was a need for continued leadership.

Hugh Schofield
Paris correspondent

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There was more sporadic vandalism and looting in central Paris on Sunday evening.

Police say they arrested more than 100 people and that five shops were looted.

They said "small groups of opportunist delinquents" were roaming the area around the Chatelet neighbourhood, where there are many shops. Police used tear gas to disperse them.

The trouble – on a much smaller scale than Saturday – went on until after midnight.

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French President Emmanuel Macron has refused the resignation of his interior minister Laurent Nuñez after a weekend of violent protests across the country.

Nuñez has been under pressure after violence broke out across France this weekend, including in Paris, Lyon and Marseille - but Macron refused "given the need for continued command of law enforcement", the Élysée Palace said.

On Saturday, hundreds of thousands of people turned out for protests against the rising cost of living and falling education standards. But there were outbreaks of violence, including rioting, looting, and arson.

A number of public buildings were targeted - in Marseille, a group briefly stormed Marseille City Hall, while Lyon's tourism office and Limoges City Hall were set on fire.

Elsewhere in Europe, protests turned violent in Italy and Albania - where rocks and petrol bombs were fired at riot police trying to defend the education ministry.

Stay with us as we bring you the latest updates and analysis throughout the day.