Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin said on Monday that he wanted to "pursue those responsible" for the wild carnival which took place in Marseille on Sunday and brought together around 6,500 people.

"I asked the prefect to check the identifications and present them to the judicial authority," he added.

The Marseille political class unanimously denounced the wild carnival which gathered around 6,500 people on Sunday in the streets of Marseille.

Last year, the carnival of the Plain had not taken place, because of the first very strict confinement.

This year, the participants defied the ban and therefore marched in the streets, sometimes without wearing a mask and without respecting the barrier gestures.

"We will continue, and this is already the case in part with the arrests and immediate appearances, those responsible," said Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin on Monday.

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"Securing the demonstration was the police priority"

"I asked the prefect to check the identifications and present them to the judicial authorities," he continued.

Nine people have already been arrested in the wake of the rally.

"There were a lot of families, a lot of children. There were also 400 people who came from the ultra-left, extremely violent", explained the minister.

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Gérald Darmanin also justified the strategy of the police during the carnival.

"The instruction that was given was first to secure the fact that families and children were in Marseille, unfortunately in a demonstration that was neither authorized, nor legal, nor declared," he said.

"The security of the demonstration was the priority of the police officers, in order to protect in particular the families and the children."

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The Minister of the Interior denounced above all that the demonstration "gave rise not simply to festive gatherings, but to damage to public property, violence against people and desecration against monuments".

"This is obviously totally unacceptable and I want to join as those who have done before in condemning these acts."

The town hall of Marseille announced that it was going to file a complaint because of the damage.