Police deployed tear gas and water cannons against masked and hooded protesters in Paris on Saturday as nationwide demonstrations over the rising cost of living spilled into violence in several major French cities, including the torching of a tourism office in Lyon and a break-in at Marseille’s city hall.
French authorities reported at least 272 arrests nationwide. The office of Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez said there was “a growing number of violent incidents,” including assaults on police officers, the looting or attempted looting of shops, and damage to public buildings.
In Paris, officers pushed back groups throwing fireworks and other objects at police in the Place de la République, northeast of the city center, where a car and a newspaper kiosk were set alight. Large contingents of riot police were sent into the square and surrounding streets, and many metro stations were closed at police request, including those near the Champs-Élysées, the presidential palace, parliament and government offices.
Away from the unrest, most demonstrators joined a peaceful march toward northwestern Paris, singing the national anthem, waving French flags, and marching to trumpets and violins.
In Lyon, France’s third-largest city, roughly 20,000 people joined the march when fire broke out inside the city’s tourism office, sending smoke and flames into the sky.
In Marseille, protesters briefly forced their way into the lobby of City Hall and damaged a municipal police station and some shops. Mayor Benoît Payan called the intrusion “unacceptable” but told BFM TV the damage inside City Hall was “limited.”
Nuñez’s office also reported violence involving masked groups in Rennes, Toulouse, Montpellier and Grenoble.
A Movement Fueled by Rising Prices
The demonstrations followed social media calls to revive the “yellow vest” movement that first erupted in 2018 over social injustice. Protesters voiced anger over months of rising gasoline, energy and food prices.
Student groups that have blockaded schools since mid-September urged their supporters to join Saturday’s marches. The CGT, one of France’s largest labor unions, backed the protests as well, calling for “higher wages and pensions, lower prices and the protection of public services that meet people’s needs.”
The unrest comes after weeks of turmoil tied to the student protest movement, which has produced thousands of arrests, hundreds of injuries and school fires since the start of the academic year, and has become a factor in France’s presidential election campaign.
Some teenage protesters have suffered severe injuries blamed on police riot-control weapons. Nuñez suspended the use of a type of police stun grenade against young demonstrators after a 15-year-old lost a hand.
On Tuesday, climate and social justice activist Greta Thunberg joined students at a high school in Saint-Denis, a Paris suburb.
