PARIS — Demonstrations swept across France on Saturday as tens of thousands of people mobilized to protest rising living costs, joining forces with high school students who have blocked campuses for nearly a month over classroom conditions.
Scuffles quickly erupted in Paris, where riot police deployed tear gas at the Place de la République to disperse masked demonstrators who threw fireworks and other items at officers, CBS News reported. Authorities closed multiple metro stations throughout the capital, including those serving the presidential palace, parliament and the Champs-Élysées, while prohibiting several planned gatherings.
By midday, the office of Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez recorded 140 actions outside the Paris region involving more than 30,000 participants, with at least 166 arrests registered across the nation, according to CBS News.
Disruption spreads to major regional hubs
Tensions extended far beyond the capital. Demonstrators and police engaged in confrontations in Lyon, Rennes, Toulouse and Angers. In Lyon, security forces launched tear gas to clear roughly 300 demonstrators stationed outside Jean Moulin University, CNN reported, citing French affiliate BFMTV.
In Marseille, France’s second-largest city, protesters forced their way into the lobby of City Hall by ramming the doors with security barriers, Euronews reported. Marseille Mayor Benoît Payan told BFM television that the damage inside the lobby remained limited after officers dispersed the crowd. Local shops and a municipal police station were also damaged in the southern port city, according to CBS News.
The mobilization brought together high school student organizations, the hard-left France Unbowed party, and participants reviving the grassroots yellow vest movement, which first surfaced in 2018 against fuel taxes and economic injustice. The CGT, a prominent French labor union, endorsed Saturday’s rallies, demanding higher wages and pensions alongside protections for public services.
Mounting casualties and scrutiny over police tactics
Saturday’s unrest followed four weeks of high school protests that have involved building blockades, school fires, and widespread arrests. Students have voiced anger over teacher shortages, overcrowded classrooms, and deteriorating school facilities, Euronews reported.
The protracted unrest has exacted a severe toll. French Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu announced Thursday that 937 police officers and gendarmes have sustained injuries since demonstrations began, while 248 students and 149 educational staff members were hurt, marking record casualty figures for the Education Ministry, according to Euronews.
Scrutiny of police tactics has intensified after several severe injuries involving teenagers. Authorities opened 36 internal inquiries into alleged police violence, including cases where a 15-year-old student lost an eye from a rubber projectile and a teenager lost a hand after picking up a stun grenade, Euronews reported. The government suspended certain stun grenades, though Nuñez said their use would remain authorized Saturday if serious street violence emerged.
Police unions have voiced anger toward government leaders as well. Alliance Police Nationale announced plans to file a legal complaint accusing the state of endangering officers’ lives, citing conflicting administrative directives during campus demonstrations, Euronews reported.
Government urges restraint as crisis unit convenes
Speaking from Brussels on Friday, President Emmanuel Macron defended the democratic right to demonstrate while urging restraint from the public.
“There is a constitutional right to protest and to express oneself,” Macron said, adding that “this right comes with the need to respect. Respect for people, respect for property, and therefore a commitment not to insult or destroy.”
The Paris Police Prefecture maintained a firm posture Saturday, posting on social media that officers “do not back down in the face of rioters and those who’ve come to attack law enforcement,” CNN reported.
France’s Interior Ministry scheduled a Saturday evening crisis meeting involving chiefs of staff for the prime minister, the interior minister, and the justice minister to review the nationwide unrest, according to CNN affiliate BFMTV, as officials brace for further disruptions.
