PARIS — 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.
Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez’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 calls on social media 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 center.
Associated Press reporters saw thick black smoke rising from cars, bicycles and other vehicles, and 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, Nuñez’s office said.
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Many metro stations were closed Saturday at police request, including those around the Champs-Elysées and near the presidential palace, parliament and government offices.
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.
Violence hit Lyon, Marseille and other cities
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, some shops and a municipal police station were damaged, while protesters briefly forced their way into the lobby of City Hall.
“This is unacceptable,” Marseille Mayor Benoît Payan told BFM TV, describing the damage in City Hall as “limited.”
Nuñez’s office also reported violence by masked groups in Rennes, Toulouse, Montpellier and Grenoble, among other cities.
Sonia Mabrouk, 40, said she came from a suburb west of Paris with her daughter, a high school student, to protest “everything that’s going wrong,” particularly the neglect of public services. Mabrouk, who took part in the yellow vest protests, criticized “policies that favor the rich and always hit the poorest people in their wallets.”
Many protesters could be seen wearing the fluorescent yellow vests that became a symbol of the 2018 rallies. “There’s a general sense of frustration and anger,” Mabrouk said, as she marched alongside peaceful demonstrators of all ages.
Saturday’s protests follow weeks of school blockades
Student groups protesting since mid-September through school blockades have urged supporters to join them.
The CGT, one of France’s major labor unions, also backed the protests, calling for “higher wages and pensions, lower prices and the protection of public services that meet people’s needs.”
It said that over 500,000 protesters joined the rallies Saturday.
In recent weeks, France has seen thousands of arrests, hundreds of injuries and schools set on fire as the new school year descended into nationwide student protests that are influencing the country’s presidential election campaign and drawing international attention.
Far-left presidential candidate Jean-Luc Mélenchon, who backed high school students movement, also took part in the Paris protest Saturday.
Among protesters, particularly gruesome wounds suffered by some teenagers have been blamed on police riot-control weapons. Nuñez suspended the use of a type of police stun grenade against the young demonstrators after a 15-year-old lost a hand.
