Protesters broke into Marseille’s town hall on Saturday during nationwide demonstrations over rising prices in France, clashing with police as tensions escalated in the southern city.

According to AFP journalists at the scene, demonstrators forced their way through the building’s doors, overturned a bust of Marianne, a symbol of the French Republic, and damaged furniture inside the entrance hall. Police later intervened to clear the building.

Earlier, masked protesters had also attacked the façade of a municipal police station, setting fire to rubbish bins and throwing smoke devices inside.