Clouds of tear gas fired by police filled the streets of Paris on Saturday, as anti-government protests spread beyond the French capital.
Some 550,000 protesters took to the streets across France, including 110,000 in Paris, Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said. The organizers estimate an even higher participation. Demonstrations also took place in Rennes, Lyon and Marseille this weekend.
Photos have emerged showing people climbing to the tops of historic statues and burned buildings, with protesters in Lille and Marseille apparently breaking into government buildings as dusk fell.
“There is an accumulation of wealth and power that is completely out of control,” one protester, who gave her name as Pauline, told CNN in Paris on Saturday.
“We are also here to support the youth. There are victories, but if we look at the whole situation, it is not going in the right direction,” added the 36-year-old.
Another protester deplored “less democracy” and a “concentration of power” under the leadership of President Emmanuel Macron. “There are billionaires who control the media,” Louise, 38, told CNN. “We are fighting to change things.”
This weekend’s massive protests follow large student rallies that took place in parts of France last month, sparking a broader multi-coalition movement against crumbling schools, soaring living costs and perceived government inaction. The rallies have become emblematic of long-standing intergenerational anger among people who say their calls for social and political change are not being met by negligent governments.
As night fell in Paris, groups of youths looted and started fires at the end of the protest, prompting police to respond with charges of tear gas and batons in the narrow streets.
Macron condemned “sowers of chaos” for interfering with peaceful protests, and warned Saturday evening that “those who destroyed, attacked (police) prefectures, as well as businesses, even looted our town halls, will be prosecuted and punished.”
“We are not backing down in the face of the rioters and those who came to attack the police,” declared the Paris police headquarters, the body which supervises the Paris police, the emergency services and the various administrative services which supervise the unit, adding that its agents held “to stand firm with courage and professionalism”.
At least 195 people have been arrested so far, amid growing criticism of authorities’ heavy-handed crackdown on protesters. Earlier in the week, the police response to protests left a 14-year-old boy with a fractured jaw. Another police officer was filmed hitting a young girl in northwest Alençon, an action now banned by law.
A protester in the town of Saint-Étienne, about 65 km southwest of Lyon, lost his hand during a march on Saturday, a police source told CNN affiliate BFMTV. This is the second reported case of a protester losing his hand in the current wave of student protests.
A student in Lens, in the northeast of the country, lost his hand after apparently picking up a grenade earlier this month, leading to the temporary suspension of a type of stun grenade by police. This ban, which still allowed police to use several different grenades, has now been lifted.
Overall, authorities said the “vast majority of individuals” demonstrated peacefully on Saturday, according to BFMTV.
On “While news channels are flooded with images of violence in dozens of cities, everything is happening peacefully with tens of thousands of people calmly mobilized. Two worlds, two realities.”
Young activists also led solidarity protests in Belgium, Albania and Italy on Saturday.
Earlier this fall, high school students in France held scattered protests demanding reduced class sizes, increased spending on teachers, investments in infrastructure designed to resist the climate crisis, and an end to police violence against young people.
Over the past fifteen years, a rise in fertility coupled with budget cuts has led to an increase in the number of students, but a decrease in the number of teachers in classrooms. French Education Minister Edouard Geffray has met several times with student protesters in recent weeks, although no agreement has yet been reached.
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