France Protests: Over 4 Lakh People March Against Inequality, Clashes Erupt In Paris - Top Updates

(MENAFN- Live Mint) Hundreds of thousands of demonstrators took to the streets across France on Saturday to protest rising living costs and growing inequality.

While largely peaceful, the nationwide demonstrations quickly devolved into violent clashes in major cities, prompting a massive security lockdown.

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The Interior Ministry of France estimated that 4,10,000 people participated in protests across the country, though trade unions claimed the actual numbers were more than double that figure. The largest gathering was on the southeastern fringes of Paris, drawing at least 110,000 demonstrators.

In a bid to prevent a repeat of previous riots, authorities deployed 70,000 police officers and gendarmes-10,000 more than the week prior. Much of central Paris was locked down, with more than 20 metro stations shut.

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The atmosphere in Paris deteriorated sharply after the main rally concluded. Riot police were forced to deploy tear gas and water cannons to disperse a breakaway group of around 500 hooded youths on a cold, rainy evening.

In France's second-largest city, youths set fire to garbage bins to block roads and hurled rocks at security forces. Several stores, including two jewellery shops, were looted and ransacked. Clashes were also reported in Lyon, Bordeaux, Toulouse, Lille, and several other cities.

Interior Minister Laurent Nunez accused far-left activists and criminal gangs of forming "high-risk groups" to deliberately foment violence. He also noted that far-right activists sought violent confrontations with leftist groups in southern cities like Nice and Montpellier. Fearing a repeat of last week's looting, business groups urged retailers to remain closed. Major cultural institutions, including the Louvre, the Musée d'Orsay, and the Paris Opera, shut their doors as a precaution, leaving international tourists stranded and frustrated.

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Hard-left leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon, who joined the Paris march, warned that the demonstrations would become a weekly occurrence. He stated that President Emmanuel Macron must either address the country's social malaise or face "the exit door." The mood was already highly volatile following a fatal shooting west of Paris on Friday. A gunman, suspected of acting out of Islamophobic hatred, killed one person and wounded four others, including a 12-year-old girl. The first officially authorised march on Saturday took place peacefully in Orléans, south of Paris. Demonstrators gathered to protest against Marine Le Pen's far-right National Rally, which was holding a party congress in the city.

What began last month as small student demonstrations in suburban Paris has now inspired international unrest.

On Saturday, anti-government protests broke out in Italy, Albania, and Belgium, where police in Brussels used tear gas and pepper spray against demonstrators.

(With Reuters input)

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