Nearly 1,000 people were arrested as 70,000 police deployed across France Saturday. Unrest also hit Italy and Albania.
Nearly 1,000 people were arrested as 70,000 police deployed across France Saturday. Unrest also hit Italy and Albania.
Nearly 1,000 people were arrested in France on Saturday as 70,000 police officers were deployed nationwide for a new day of protests, Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez said. He said the figure was expected to rise significantly. By the same time last week, authorities had recorded 385 arrests. That day ended with 2,700 arrests, after riots and looting.
Marches over living costs and public services were largely peaceful during the day, Nuñez said. The Interior Ministry counted about 410,000 protesters nationwide, including 110,000 in Paris, while unions estimated 800,000. Police prevented protesters from staging unauthorized roving protests or heading toward city centers, and they searched people in advance. They arrested people suspected of carrying potential weapons, including fireworks and ball bearings, Reuters reported. Nuñez said there had been no targeted attacks on public buildings such as town halls and police stations, which he said were far fewer than the week before.
Clashes followed the marches. At the end of a march in Paris from Porte d’Italie toward Porte de Vincennes, several thousand radical activists gathered at the rear, including about 500 people identified as rioters, Nuñez said. Police used tear gas. He said officers faced an extremely high level of violence, with projectiles and mortar-type fireworks thrown at them, and he blamed black-clad “ultra-left” groups. Police also used tear gas in Clermont-Ferrand, Grenoble, Lille and Nice, and a water cannon in Nice. Protesters built barricades and set them alight in Marseille. Two people were seriously injured, one in Toulouse and one in Clermont-Ferrand. Nuñez said Saturday’s outcome appeared more positive than a week earlier, with more officers deployed and acting faster, and said authorities would remain on high alert overnight and into Sunday.
Central Paris resembled a city under lockdown, with shops boarded up, museums closed and more than 20 Metro stations suspended. Separately, police estimated 11,000 people joined a march in Paris against a far-right gathering, while organizers put the number at 26,000, CBS News reported.
The unrest spread beyond France. In Rome, police used a water cannon on protesters as demonstrations over rising living costs and war turned violent, and clashes were reported in Turin and Bologna. In Albania’s capital, Tirana, some demonstrators set government buildings on fire. Prime Minister Edi Rama said his government was preparing a response to students’ demands and called for dialogue. President Donald Trump, speaking after casting an early ballot in Florida, said France showed what he claimed could happen in the U.S. under left-wing leadership.
Information for this report was provided by CBS News, CNN, Fox News, France 24, Reuters, AFP and The Associated Press.