France's President Emmanuel Macron attends the plenary session at the G20 leaders summit in Buenos Aires, Argentina December 1, 2018. G20 Argentina/Handout via REUTERS

BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) - French President Emmanuel Macron said on Saturday that the wave of violence and vandalism in Paris on Saturday could not be justified in any way and had nothing to do with a peaceful expression of legitimate anger.

“No cause justifies that security forces are attacked, shops pillaged, public or private buildings set on fire, pedestrians or journalists threatened or that the Arc de Triomphe is sullied,” Macron told a news conference in Buenos Aires, where he was attending the G20 summit.

Declining to take questions after a day of rioting in Paris, he said those who had carried out the violence merely sought to spread chaos. He said he would convene a meeting of senior ministers has soon as he returns to discuss how to respond.