Nearly 1,000 arrested as 4.1 lakh march in France's second weekend of protests

France’s second weekend of mass protests passed off with far less destruction than the first, but police still made nearly 1,000 arrests and fired tear gas in cities from Paris to Marseille as demonstrations against the cost of living ran into the night on Saturday.

The interior ministry counted 4.1 lakh marchers across the country, 1.1 lakh of them in Paris. Organisers put the national figure above 8 lakh. Some 70,000 police and gendarmes were on duty, and soldiers patrolled the Champs-Élysées.

Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said officers had faced “an extremely elevated level of violence” from black-clad groups he described as the ultra-left, but called the day more positive than the week before, when more than 2,000 people were taken into custody after looting across the country. “We have to be ultra, ultra responsive,” he told reporters earlier in the day.

Tear gas after dark

In Paris, the march had been pushed away from its planned route between Bastille and Nation to the south-eastern edge of the city. At least 24 metro stations were shut, and the Louvre, the Musée d’Orsay and the Paris Opera stayed closed. Police used tear gas and water cannon on small groups of hooded youths as the mood turned at nightfall. Authorities said about 500 “rioters” took on police in the capital.

Tear gas was also used in Lyon, Bordeaux, Lille, Toulouse, Montpellier, Nantes and Nice. In Marseille, youths blocked a street, set fires and threw rocks and bottles at riot police. Two people were seriously injured, Nunez said, one in Toulouse, where a man reportedly had fingers blown off, and one in Clermont-Ferrand.

Protests were banned outright in Montpellier, Rouen and Nice, and in central Lyon.

Students say they will be back

The movement began in mid-September with high school students blockading schools over crumbling buildings, teacher shortages and the Parcoursup university admissions system. It has since drawn in unions and former yellow vest activists angry about prices and inequality. President Emmanuel Macron met student representatives on Friday and promised more teachers and an overhaul of Parcoursup, but students have called another protest for next Saturday.

Jean-Luc Mélenchon, leader of France Unbowed, marched in Paris and called the turnout a “magnificent mass display of collective discipline and self-restraint”. He predicted weekly protests until Macron responds. “There is still time for (Macron) to give in,” he said.

“We shed tears for shops, not for the people who are being impoverished all year round,” said Clara Lebbadi, a 22-year-old arts student.

In Orléans, thousands marched against the National Rally’s party congress, where Jordan Bardella was re-elected party president with nearly 99% of the vote. Bardella and Marine Le Pen are due to launch the party’s presidential campaign before about 10,000 supporters on Sunday. Protests were also held in Belgium, Italy, Spain and Portugal.

India’s foreign ministry had earlier advised Indians in France, Italy and Belgium to stay away from the demonstrations.