France Interior Ministry Reports 980 Arrests in Latest Protest Round

The French interior ministry confirmed that 980 people were arrested on Saturday. This number represents the core of a new wave of nationwide demonstrations that began peacefully and ended with street clashes in multiple cities. Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez stated late in the day that the count would rise as more data arrived.

Police forces faced the largest deployment in recent memory. Approximately 70,000 officers were assigned to duty to manage the crowds. The ministry estimated the total turnout at 410,000 people. Labor unions disputed this figure, claiming that around 800,000 individuals participated in the marches. The primary grievances cited by organizers were high costs of living and deteriorating conditions in schools.

Violence emerged in the evening hours across several major French cities. In Paris, trouble started after a march from Porte d'Italie toward Porte de Vincennes. Police used an elite unit typically reserved for counter-terrorism to manage the scene. Protesters constructed makeshift barricades and threw objects at officers. Officers responded with baton charges against groups of masked youths who were breaking windows at a car dealership.

In Marseille, demonstrators set fire to rubbish bins and barricaded streets with metal sheets. In Bordeaux, witnesses observed people removing boards from a shop. Police in Lyon fired tear gas to disperse a crowd in an area declared off-limits by the local prefecture. One student protester told the BBC that the group consisted of about 150 people, mostly secondary school and university students, and that visibility was nearly zero due to the gas.

The government implemented strict measures to prevent a repeat of the disorder from the previous weekend. President Emmanuel Macron issued a decree earlier in the week allowing only trade union-organized demonstrations. Fast-track court hearings have already jailed hundreds of individuals for vandalism, arson, and looting. Nuñez noted that nearly 500 individuals identified as rioters gathered at the rear of the Paris march.

Two people were seriously injured in the clashes. One victim was in Toulouse and the other in Clermont-Ferrand. The government aimed to avoid the widespread rioting seen a week earlier, when officers were outnumbered and hundreds of businesses were looted. The previous weekend resulted in more than 2,500 arrests and damage estimated in the hundreds of millions of euros by the Chambers of Commerce and Industry.

Protesters expressed frustration over economic conditions. A 26-year-old Paris resident named Zelie told the BBC that people were suffering a lot. Two masked teenagers stated that their generation felt abandoned by the government. One of the teenagers acknowledged that looting was not ideal but blamed poverty and police violence. In Orléans, 13,000 people rallied peacefully against the National Rally party.

The unrest extended beyond French borders. Riot police in Tirana, Albania, fired tear gas at thousands of anti-government demonstrators. Clashes were also reported in Brussels. In Milan, hundreds of soldiers and police blocked protesters from gathering to prevent a repeat of the previous week's violence. With presidential elections six months away, political contenders are blaming President Macron and his ministers for the ongoing instability.