Police fire tear gas, arrest dozens as France braces for more protests
France is seeing more protests a week after 3,000 buildings were damaged or looted. Demonstrations are also underway in other European cities.
Key points
- French police arrested 135 people and fired tear gas at protesters Saturday as authorities tightened security in major cities.
- Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez said there had been "no major incident" so far, with up to 70,000 officers deployed nationwide.
- Protests over the high cost of living spread across Europe, including Italy, Spain, Portugal and Albania.
French police arrested dozens of people and fired tear gas at protesters on Saturday as authorities increased security in major cities to prevent a repeat of last week's rioting. The nationwide demonstrations focus on the high cost of living, and a large turnout was expected again after more than half a million people took to the streets last week.
Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez said 135 people had been arrested and a range of items seized, including metal balls, lead pellets, fireworks, slingshots, steel balls, improvised weapons, a katana and airsoft weapons. He said there had so far been "no major incident" in the country. Nuñez had previously said as many as 70,000 officers would be deployed nationwide, along with helicopters, armored vehicles and water cannons.
Protest bans and a march in Paris
Demonstrations were banned in the southeastern city of Lyon, where about 150 protesters near the city center briefly tried to block a road and police used tear gas to disperse them. In Orleans, thousands marched against a congress held by Marine Le Pen's far-right National Rally party, with police putting the crowd at 11,000 and organizers at 26,000. French media reported that protest ended peacefully early Saturday afternoon.
Authorities described the atmosphere in Paris as "calm" as hundreds gathered at Porte d'Italie for the city's only authorized march. The gathering had been set for the Bastille in the city center, but police ordered it moved at the last minute. Union representative Murielle Guilbert told reporters it was "scandalous" that Macron had forbidden protesters from demonstrating "where we wish to demonstrate."
We are here today, quite obviously, because there is immense social anger in this country, and because wages have still not been increased to the level they should be.
— Murielle Guilbert
Closures and events affected
Major museums in Paris are closed and many businesses have been boarded up. Art Basel opened to the public Friday for one day only, with organizers canceling the weekend program because of the threat of unrest. Some 3,000 shops across France were damaged or looted last weekend.
The first-ever NFL game in France between the New Orleans Saints and the Pittsburgh Steelers remains scheduled for Paris on Sunday, but a pop-up NFL shop and the "NFL House" were closed Saturday. A soccer game between Paris Saint-Germain and Olympique Lyonnais was postponed from Sunday to Monday night. The Yellow Vests said they would hold another round of protests on Oct. 31, calling for rallies and a sit-in outside parliament and city halls nationwide.
