Almost 1,000 people have been arrested after another day of mass protests in France, accompanied by clashes between demonstrators and police in Paris, Marseille, Bordeaux and Lyon. According to the French Interior Ministry, around 410,000 people took part in the demonstrations, while unions estimate their number at nearly 800,000.
The protests are aimed at the high cost of living and poor conditions in schools. About 70,000 police were deployed across the country, and restrictions were imposed in several cities to prevent a repeat of the large-scale looting and destruction of the previous weekend.
Clashes after peaceful marches
In Paris, tensions escalated at the end of the march from Porte d'Italie to Porte de Vincennes. Some protesters built makeshift barricades and threw objects at police. Police used tear gas, water cannons and batons after masked youths began breaking the windows of a car dealership.
“Several thousand radical activists gathered at the back of the march, including about 500 people identified as rioters,“ Interior Minister Laurent Nunes was quoted by Agence France-Presse. He said the number of arrests would increase.
In Marseille, trash cans were set on fire and metal sheets blocked streets. In Bordeaux, people in dark clothes and with their faces covered removed boards from a building to build a barricade. In Lyon, police used tear gas against a group gathered in an area prohibited by local authorities.
Nunez also reported two serious injuries - one in Toulouse and the other in Clermont-Ferrand.
Discontent remains strong
A 26-year-old protester in Paris, who identified herself as Zeli, told the BBC that people had taken to the streets because they were "very disappointed" and had been suffering for a long time. "They are taking our money, they are taxing us heavily and we cannot say anything. "Today we are on the streets because this has gone on for too long," she said.
Last weekend, some 550,000 people took part in demonstrations, followed by more than 2,500 arrests. More than 2,000 shops and other businesses were hit by violence and looting, and French chambers of commerce and industry estimated the damage at hundreds of millions of euros. A demonstrator was also seriously injured in the unrest, having his arm blown off by a police crowd-control grenade. About 1,000 police officers were also injured.
Amid the protests, around 13,000 people took part in a peaceful rally against the National Rally party in Orleans. Demonstrations on similar social issues were also held in other European cities, including Tirana and Brussels. In Milan, a heavy police presence and the deployment of soldiers prevented large protest groups from gathering.
The ongoing tensions come about six months before the French presidential election. President Emmanuel Macron has ordered that only demonstrations organised by recognised unions will be allowed, and hundreds of people have already been sentenced in expedited trials for vandalism, arson and looting.
Sources: bbc.com