French Protests: 410,000 March as Police Arrest 980

French authorities arrested close to 1,000 people on Saturday as hundreds of thousands of citizens joined a new wave of nationwide demonstrations. The interior ministry estimated the total turnout at 410,000, while labor unions claimed the figure reached approximately 800,000. Officials deployed roughly 70,000 police officers across the country to manage the crowds and prevent a repeat of the disorder seen a week earlier.

The demonstrations began peacefully during the day but turned volatile as evening approached. Clashes erupted in multiple cities, forcing police to deploy tear gas and water cannons. In Paris, tensions peaked near the end of a march from Porte d'Italie to Porte de Vincennes. Police charged with batons at groups of masked youths who smashed the windows of a car dealership, while protesters threw projectiles at officers and built makeshift barricades.

Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez stated that several thousand radical activists had gathered at the rear of the Paris march. He identified about 500 of them as specific rioters. An elite police unit, typically assigned to counter-terrorism and organized crime, participated in the Paris operation. Nuñez reported that two people suffered serious injuries during the events, one in Toulouse and another in Clermont-Ferrand.

Violence also marked the day in other major cities. In Marseille, demonstrators set fire to barricades and blocked streets with metal sheets. Rubbish bins were set alight in the same city. In Bordeaux, onlookers watched as people tore boards from a shop. In Lyon, police fired tear gas to disperse a crowd that had gathered in an area the local prefecture had declared off-limits. One protester in Lyon said the group consisted of around 150 people, mostly secondary school and university students, noting that visibility in the street was poor due to the gas.

President Emmanuel Macron issued a decree earlier in the week restricting official demonstrations to those organized by recognized trade unions. This move followed the unrest of the previous weekend, which produced some of the worst disorder in France's modern history. Hundreds of individuals have been jailed for vandalism, arson, and looting following fast-track court hearings held in recent days. The current protests focus on the rising cost of living and poor conditions in schools.

Protesters expressed deep frustration with the current government. A 26-year-old woman in Paris named Zelie told the BBC that people are suffering a lot and that it has been too much. Two masked teenagers said their generation feels abandoned by leaders. One of the teenagers acknowledged that looting is not good but blamed poverty and police violence, stating the protests would continue until demands are met. In Orléans, about 13,000 people rallied peacefully against the hard-right National Rally party.

The unrest has spread beyond France's borders. In Tirana, Albania, riot police fired tear gas at thousands of anti-government demonstrators. Clashes were also reported in Brussels. In Milan, hundreds of soldiers and police prevented protesters from gathering amid fears of a repeat of the violence from the previous week.

Last weekend, approximately 550,000 people demonstrated against rising fuel prices and the cost of living. That event resulted in more than 2,500 arrests. Over 2,000 shops and businesses were directly affected, with the Chambers of Commerce and Industry estimating damage in the hundreds of millions of euros. 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 to blame President Macron and his ministers for the escalating situation.