French police clash with protesters as tens of thousands rally over cost of living

• Tens of thousands protested across France over high living costs and poor public services, with clashes in Paris, Marseille, Toulouse, Angers and Lyon.
• The Interior Ministry said 272 people were arrested, while protesters blamed violence on troublemakers and the ministry blamed the “ultra-left”.
• Police tactics are under scrutiny after injuries and complaints of force, as the unrest recalls the Yellow Vest movement and wider anger over inequality.

PARIS – Clashes broke out between police and protesters in cities across France on Oct 17 as tens of thousands of people angered by living costs and declining public services took to the streets in some of the country’s most violent protests in years.

The Interior Ministry said 272 people had been arrested by mid-afternoon after violent incidents involving hooded individuals, including in Paris, Marseille in the south, Toulouse in the south-west, Angers in the west and Lyon in east-central France.

The protesters said most people were protesting peacefully and put much of the violence down to troublemakers who had set out to cause damage and clash with the police.

The ministry said, however, that violence was increasing, and that there had been “confrontations with law enforcement, looting or attempted looting of shops, attacks on and damage to public buildings”.

It blamed the unrest on what it described as the “ultra-left”.

In some parts of Paris, police occasionally fired tear gas rounds as they retreated in the face of mostly young protesters, many of whom were dressed in black and wore hoodies, masks and goggles to protect against tear gas.

Some tourists at a fashionable department store near the Paris opera were seen spluttering when they were caught in clouds of tear gas, and shops nearby were hastily shuttered.

Windows of many shops and restaurants in the capital were smashed, and cars and trash cans were set on fire.

In Lyon, protesters torched the tourist office.

In Marseille, the mayor said the town hall had been vandalised and that additional police were being sent to the city following talks with the government.

In protests partly inspired by those in France, several hundred mostly young people also protested in Brussels on Oct 17, and some clashed with police.

Belgian student groups have said they are protesting against rising education costs and reforms they fear will make higher education less accessible.

Albania also faced more protests on Oct 17, with police firing what appeared to be rubber bullets at protesters during a fifth day of mass student demonstrations calling for Prime Minister Edi Rama to step down.

Police response under scrutiny

The protests began in September at high schools in Paris’ poor northern suburbs, where anger over teacher absences and shabby facilities quickly morphed into a nationwide movement against inequality, weak public spending and falling standards.

“We are fighting because the cost of living is too harsh, because the price of fuel is too high, because high school pupils are being violently attacked and hurt all over the country just for trying to protest and ask for more teachers and decent learning conditions,” said a 19-year-old protester in Paris who gave her name as Lola.

A large police presence had been deployed in central Paris, especially near landmarks such as the Champs-Elysees and the Arc de Triomphe, which were excluded from the routes of two authorised demonstrations.

Protesters in high-visibility vests blocked streets, recalling the Yellow Vest movement that marked President Emmanuel Macron’s previous term in office.

Police tactics have drawn criticism following a series of injuries among demonstrators, including a teenager who had his hand blown off after picking up a stun grenade. Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu said more than 900 police personnel had also been injured.

The police watchdog is investigating at least two dozen cases of alleged police violence. France suspended the use of stun grenades for the student demonstrations, but Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said they could be used in the protest on Oct 17.

The Yellow Vest movement started in 2018 as a protest against taxes on diesel before expanding into an outpouring of anger at high living costs and income inequality.

The movement subsided after Macron announced billions of euros in tax cuts. REUTERS