Arsenal legend Emmanuel Petit slams French rioters - 'Go back from where you came'

Shops have been looted and vehicles were set on fire, as French President Emmanuel Macron described feeling "both anger and shame" at the chaos.

Petit took to social media and expressed his "profound deep anger" at people born in France, whom he is convinced "detest" their nation.

He said: "It's thugs because their cowardice is what unites them. They destroy everything, they burn everything, they break everything, they plunder, they steal, they hurt, they aggress, they insult.

"You shouldn't mix up the people who manifested yesterday, and I understand them strongly because I too am more than fed up of being pressed like a lemon on a fiscal plan, because all the French who work honestly, who wake up early to have a dignified life to be able to raise their children, to try to have a semblance of future, these people are trampled, we are pressed...

"I have a message for all the people who still believe profoundly, like me, that France is a superb country that opens its doors wide open to all the people who wish to live, come here in France, well, continue, because I am like you.

"I love my country, I love all foreigners who love my country and who want to integrate."

Petit continued: "But all the others, starting with the French who do not wish precisely that France continues to be what it is, go back from where you came, we don't need you.

"And all those who were born with a French passport, break yourselves, we don't want you anymore."

Part of Petit's lengthy video message saw him address the French President, telling him to "be very careful about what you are going to do".

He said: "I'm addressing the political class, starting with our dear president, Mr Macron, and all the political classes.

"When I see the National Assembly and the Senate, everywhere, all the political parties that fight today to try to have absolute power in a few months.

"To all these people, I have a message to give you: be very careful about what you are going to do, what you are going to say, and how you are going to protect the honest citizens in France.

"Because today, there's no money for the police, there's no money for the army, there's no money for the hospitals, there's no money for the schools.

"Bizarrely, the only thing that works in France, is taxes. So that we can count on you to come and press us, put our head in the toilets, it's never enough.

"Taxes are constantly increasing, there is enough. We have the right to claim justly things from the state, because you ask so much of us, we are on the other side. But where are you? What are you doing?"

The disorder escalated across Saturday and Sunday, with police officers having to fire tear gas at protesters at Place de la Republique as bikes, bins and other objects were set alight.

In Marseille, vehicles were set on fire as looters went on the rampage inside Les Docks shopping centre.