Author: SYLVIE CORBET | JADE LE DELEY
Cars were set on fire and shops were looted in Paris on Saturday as police used tear gas and water cannons to disperse violent protesters who joined nationwide demonstrations against rising living costs and in support of high school students’ grievances.
Police arrested at least 1,800 people across France after violent groups clashed with officers and looted shops during nationwide demonstrations that drew hundreds of thousands protesting rising living costs and poor conditions in schools.
Meanwhile, President Emmanuel Macron was due to hold an emergency meeting with senior Government officials on Sunday before addressing the nation, his office said.
Interior Minister Laurent Nunez’s office reported “a growing number of violent incidents” across the country, including assaults on officers, looting and damage to public buildings. Police made at least 272 arrests across the country, including in Paris.
Protesters across France responded to social media calls to revive the “yellow vest” movement, which emerged in 2018 against social injustice. Demonstrators expressed widespread frustration and anger at the Government as gasoline, energy and food prices have spiked in recent months.
Police fired tear gas and water cannons to push back people wearing hoods and masks and throwing fireworks, paving stones and other objects at officers in the Place de la République, northeast of the Paris city centre.
About 550,000 people took part in protests across France, according to authorities, while organisers put the figure at about 800,000. Demonstrators answered calls from a labour union, student organisations and activists hoping to revive the “yellow vest” movement, which emerged in 2018 to protest social injustice.
Mass protests in France are often marred by violence on the fringes of otherwise peaceful marches, leading to clashes with police. The arrest tally reported Sunday approached the nearly 2,000 recorded nationwide during a single day of yellow vest protests in December 2018.
One person died of a heart attack, Paris police said in a statement, without providing details. The Paris prosecutor’s office said it was investigating.
The media reporters saw thick black smoke rising from cars, bicycles, and other vehicles, as well as trash bins on fire. A kiosk was also burning, while several shops have been looted. Several people have been injured in the clashes.
Police tried to prevent other small groups of protesters from converging on Government buildings, Nunez’s office said.
Police closed many metro stations on Saturday at their request, including those around the Champs-Élysées and near the presidential palace, parliament, and Government offices.
Dislodged cobblestones, shattered storefronts and broken glass littered the area around Paris’ Place de la Republique on Sunday. Looting and damage were also reported in other tourist and shopping districts.
Meanwhile, the majority of peaceful protesters joined a march that moved toward northwestern Paris. The crowd chanted France’s national anthem and waved flags, and some people played trumpets and violins.
In Lyon, France’s third-largest city, where about 20,000 protesters joined the march, a fire broke out inside a tourist office.
In the southern port city of Marseille, protesters damaged some shops and a municipal police station, and briefly forced their way into the lobby of City Hall.
“This is unacceptable,” Marseille Mayor Benoit Payan told BFM TV, describing the damage in City Hall as “limited.”
Nunez’s office also reported violence by masked groups in Rennes, Toulouse, Montpellier and Grenoble, among other cities.