Riot police fired tear gas at protesters in France’s largest cities and more than 1,300 people were arrested during demonstrations against the rising cost of living on Saturday (24 October). Police also used a water cannon on a group of around 500 hooded youths in Paris, after the main rally ended.
In France's second largest city, Marseille, youths set fire to rubbish bins to block roads, and hurled rocks and bottles at security forces. Police said several stores, including two jewellery shops, were ransacked.
The French Interior Ministry said 410,000 people took part in protests nationwide, though unions said the true figure was twice as high.
Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez said officers were confronted with “an extremely elevated level of violence” from black-clad “ultra-left” extremists and criminal gangs.
“In almost every march we saw the formation of these high-risk groups. They broke away from the main body and sought to commit acts of violence,” Nuñez said.
He told reporters the violence was less intense than a week ago, when looters and vandals went on the rampage.
Two people were seriously injured: one a man in Toulouse, southwestern France, who had his fingers blown off, and another person in Clermont-Ferrand, central France, Nuñez added.
French authorities had deployed 70,000 extra police across the country for demonstrations on Saturday after protests the previous week descended into rioting, with shops looted and public buildings damaged.
Much of central Paris took on the appearance of a city under lockdown, with shopkeepers boarding up storefronts, museums closing their doors and more than 20 metro stations shut.
Business groups urged retailers to remain closed after thousands of shops and businesses were damaged or looted across France last weekend.
“There are hardly any customers, so it's not really worth staying open,” said Oskar, the manager of one of luxury Italian fashion house Kiton's boutiques in Paris.
Several of the capital's best-known cultural institutions, including the Louvre, the Musée d'Orsay and the Paris Opera, closed for the day as a precaution, leaving tourists frustrated.
“Everything's boarded up and we're not quite sure where we should be,” Xavier Dolliole, a visitor from the U.S. city of New Orleans, said.
The nationwide disorder began with small student demonstrations in suburban Paris last month, protesting school conditions. It swiftly broadened into a wider protest against the government's economic policies and inspired demonstrations in neighbouring countries.
On Saturday Belgian police used tear gas and pepper spray as they clashed in Brussels with anti-government demonstrators, with protests also taking place in a number of Italian cities for a second weekend, and in Albania.
Hard-left leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon, who joined the Paris rally, predicted the protests would continue until President Emmanuel Macron conceded to demands and resigned.
“Given the current situation, I think he will come to understand that this will happen again every week. There is still time for [Macron] to give in. After that, the only thing left to him will be the exit door,” Mélenchon told reporters.
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