France Protests: Nearly 1,000 Arrests as Clashes Return

France has returned to street-level unrest following a week of severe disorder. On Saturday, nearly 1,000 people were arrested as hundreds of thousands of demonstrators joined a new wave of nationwide protests. While the daytime marches remained largely peaceful, the atmosphere shifted in the evening when clashes erupted in several major cities.

Police deployed tear gas and water cannon to break up crowds in locations including Paris. In Marseille, protesters set barricades on fire, while in Bordeaux, demonstrators tore boards from shop fronts. Authorities aimed to prevent a repeat of the previous weekend’s chaos, which saw officers outnumbered, hundreds of businesses looted, and buildings torched. To manage the situation, roughly 70,000 police officers were deployed, and movement restrictions were imposed in key areas.

Estimates for the total turnout varied significantly. The interior ministry calculated that 410,000 people attended, whereas labor unions placed the number at approximately 800,000. President Emmanuel Macron had previously decreed that only demonstrations organized by recognized trade unions would be permitted. This measure followed fast-track court hearings that resulted in the jailing of hundreds of individuals for vandalism, arson, and looting.

In Paris, the situation deteriorated at the end of a march from Porte d'Italie to Porte de Vincennes. An elite police unit, typically assigned to counter-terrorism and organized crime, was part of the response. Protesters built makeshift barriers and threw projectiles at officers. Police responded with baton charges against groups of masked youths who were smashing the windows of a car dealership. Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez stated that several thousand radical activists gathered at the rear of the march, including around 500 identified rioters.

Violence also occurred in other cities. In Marseille, rubbish bins were set alight, and metal sheets blocked streets. In Lyon, police fired tear gas to disperse a crowd in an area declared off-limits by the local prefecture. One protester in Lyon, who was part of a group of about 150 secondary school and university students, said visibility was so poor that they could barely see anything in the street.

Minister Nuñez reported late in the day that two people had been seriously injured, one in Toulouse and the other in Clermont-Ferrand. He indicated that the arrest figure would likely increase. Protesters expressed frustration with the current conditions. A 26-year-old woman named Zelie, speaking in Paris, said people were suffering a lot and that the pressure had become too much. Two masked teenagers in another group said their generation felt abandoned by the government. One of them admitted looting was not good but blamed poverty and police violence, adding that the protests would continue until demands were met.

The unrest has extended beyond French borders. In Tirana, Albania, riot police fired tear gas at thousands of anti-government demonstrators. Clashes were reported in Brussels, and in Milan, hundreds of soldiers and police prevented protesters from gathering due to fears of renewed violence. Last weekend, approximately 550,000 people demonstrated against rising fuel prices. More than 2,500 arrests followed that weekend, with damage to over 2,000 shops and businesses estimated in the hundreds of millions of euros by trade chambers. About 1,000 police officers were injured, and one demonstrator lost a hand to a crowd-control grenade. With presidential elections six months away, leading contenders have begun blaming Macron and his ministers for the instability.