PARIS — Demonstrations across France turned violent Saturday as more than half a million people protested over living costs and deteriorating conditions in schools, leaving town halls damaged, stores ransacked and hundreds detained in the fourth consecutive week of unrest.
According to the French Interior Ministry, more than 550,000 demonstrators rallied throughout the country. Clashes erupted in multiple cities when masked and hooded factions attacked officers, set fires and vandalized public buildings. French Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu reported that roughly 1,200 people were arrested nationwide on Saturday and 150 police officers suffered injuries, Al Jazeera reported.
Rampant destruction across French cities
The unrest caused widespread destruction in major urban areas. In the south-central city of Limoges, protesters ignited a blaze that largely destroyed the more than 140-year-old town hall, while civic buildings were broken into and vandalized in Marseille and Lille, Al Jazeera reported. In Lyon, demonstrators torched a local tourist office, and clothes and grocery retailers were looted across Paris, Nice, Nantes, Toulouse, Bordeaux and Strasbourg.
In Lille, an Apple retail store was breached and emptied, according to BBC News. Regional authorities also confronted dangerous incidents; in Saint-Étienne, a young demonstrator suffered a severed hand from a small explosive device, Mayor Régis Juanico stated on social media. BBC Verify authenticated footage showing masked individuals driving a tourist train through the narrow streets of downtown Grenoble directly toward riot police.
In Paris, police deployed tear gas and water cannons near Place de la République after groups tossed fireworks and projectiles at lines of officers, Fox News reported. While the Interior Ministry initially confirmed at least 272 arrests earlier in the day, totals surged into the evening.
Fiscal distress and political standoff
The rallies initially gathered steam among high school students decrying underfunded classrooms, teacher vacancies and sweltering facilities, but quickly absorbed broader public frustrations over high inflation and public services, Fortune reported. The movement has also drawn support from trade unions and members of the yellow vest movement, BBC News noted.
The disturbances coincide with mounting turmoil for the French economy. France carries a record national debt of $4 trillion — approximately 119 percent of gross domestic product — pushing French borrowing costs on government bonds to 24-year peaks, Fortune reported. Lecornu is scheduled to present a proposed 2027 budget to the National Assembly on Tuesday that aims to trim the deficit to 5 percent of GDP.
President Emmanuel Macron, currently in his final six months in office, warned that outside political groups are manipulating legitimate student grievances. Government spokeswoman Maud Bregeon told AFP that Macron acknowledged young people have valid concerns but insisted they are “being exploited for political purposes and turned into urban violence.”
Lecornu went further, accusing the far-left France Unbowed party of instrumentalizing students for political advantage, Fox News reported. Meanwhile, the Alliance Police Nationale union filed a lawsuit against the state, accusing officials of leaving officers endangered through contradictory instructions and hesitant political backing.
Discontent crosses European borders
Tension also spilled into several neighboring countries on Saturday, as citizens mobilized against soaring prices and declining purchasing power.
- In Belgium, riot officers fired water cannons and tear gas against crowds in Brussels and Liege protesting rising tuition and education reforms.
- In Milan, masked demonstrators broke away from an anti-war and anti-inflation march, damaging storefronts, torching barricades made of cafe tables and emptying Piazza del Duomo, according to Al Jazeera.
- In Lisbon, tens of thousands joined peaceful rallies to highlight steep housing prices and stagnant compensation.
French authorities hope the street actions might cool in the coming days as secondary schools close until Nov. 2 for the All Saints’ holiday. However, the government faces an immediate hurdle on Tuesday when the National Assembly holds its initial high-stakes vote on the contentious austerity budget.
