French police fire tear gas and water cannons as Paris protests turn violent
Clashes broke out at the end of a mass march in Paris on Saturday as more than 400,000 people rallied across France over school funding and living costs. Police made nearly 1,000 arrests.
Clashes erupted in Paris on Saturday as a mass march drew to a close, with police firing tear gas, sound grenades and water cannons at masked protesters who had hurled objects and fireworks. The unrest came as more than 400,000 people rallied across France over school funding and soaring living costs, posing a fresh challenge to President Emmanuel Macron. The government said police made nearly 1,000 arrests, a figure it expects to rise as more arrests are counted.
The Paris march began peacefully, a week after widespread rioting and looting during protests across the country. Near the demonstration's endpoint in eastern Paris, violence broke out. Officers with megaphones urged protesters to disperse, and some demonstrators panicked as tear-gas canisters landed among them, scattering with screams. Veteran protesters shouted at those running, telling them not to run. Shopkeepers across Paris boarded up storefronts, and gendarmes stood guard beneath the Arc de Triomphe.
The Interior Ministry put nationwide turnout at 410,000, fewer than the 550,000 it said protested the previous weekend. The CGT union, which helped organize some of Saturday's protests, estimated nearly 800,000 participants. The ministry's estimate included 110,000 people in Paris, where authorities confined the march to the city's southeastern edge, away from the center. The CGT put the Paris figure at 250,000.
Violence also flared in other cities as dusk fell. Street fires burned in Marseille and Lyon, and police used tear gas in Lyon, Clermont-Ferrand, Strasbourg and Bordeaux, and water cannons in Nice and Nantes, according to French media. In Nice, far-right extremists fought with demonstrators downtown, and 11 people were arrested, regional authorities said. Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez said that 70,000 officers, backed by helicopters and armored vehicles, helped prevent a repeat of the widespread looting and damage to shops seen the previous weekend.
The protests are testing Macron's authority in the final months of his presidency, before voters choose his successor in May. The far-right National Rally has accused his government of failing to protect the public and has urged people to channel their anger into votes for its candidate, Marine Le Pen. On the far left, presidential candidate Jean-Luc Mélenchon has backed the demonstrators and criticized policing that has left some teenage protesters with life-changing injuries.
The movement began last month as a protest over staff shortages at one high school southeast of Paris. It spread nationwide, drawing students who demanded more education funding and workers seeking help with rising fuel and other costs. Bénédicte Pittion, a 46-year-old teacher, marched in Paris with her 16-year-old daughter, Garance, in their first protest together. « The young people who have been demonstrating have not been heard, and as a parent and as a teacher, I stand with them, » Pittion said. Garance said she had been « really scared » after the previous weekend's violence, but felt staying away would hand the government a victory.
Macron met high school representatives on Friday. They said he had promised to overhaul university admissions, but they called for protests to continue until concrete measures are announced. Student groups want 250,000 more places in higher education and an end to selection through Parcoursup, the national admissions system. Their joint 10-point plan also calls for more teachers and repairs to schools and universities.
Some protests were banned, including in Lyon, Nice and Montpellier, a decision trade unions criticized as a violation of freedom of expression protected by the constitution. Soumaya Abed, a 58-year-old nurse wearing a CGT vest, said authorities wanted to stifle protesters by keeping them on the capital's outskirts, away from the center where the Louvre and other major museums closed exceptionally. Art Basel opened to the public Friday for one day only, after organizers canceled the weekend program over the threat of unrest. Other protesters voiced anger over record poverty and wealth inequality under Macron, including Camille Chesnier, 27, who said she has not found work despite an engineering degree and a master's degree.
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