French Protests Boil Over With Buildings Torched and Hundreds Arrested Nationwide

Weeks of escalating protests across France boiled over Saturday with police reporting more than 270 persons arrested as half a million demonstrators took to the streets of Paris and more than 100 smaller cities and communities, frequently clashing with authorities and setting fires. The protests, calling for increased government spending on schools and public services, pose an impossible dilemma for President Emmanuel Macron, who is under pressure from the European Union and global financial markets to cut spending in the face of a huge public debt. It also creates an opening for Mr. Macron’s far-right opposition, which is pushing a law-and-order platform ahead of presidential elections next year.In Paris, video reports showed thick black smoke rising from the streets as protesters set fire to trash cans and created barriers blocking roads. Police used tear gas and water cannons to push back masked protesters who attacked them with projectiles and fireworks, the French newspaper Le Monde reported. It said several parked cars were set on fire.In France’s second-largest city, Lyon, masked youths set fire to a tourism office before being dispersed by police with tear gas and water cannons, Le Monde said. In the northern city of Lille, some of the protesters broke into the mayor’s office and vandalized the premises. Reuters cited further arrests in Marseille, Toulouse and other cities as protests were counted in 140 communities nationwide. A police source told AFP that in the southern city of Saint-Etienne, a male protester had his hand blown off by a police crowd-control grenade.The protests, which began a month ago with high school students complaining of decrepit school conditions, have broadened to include major trade unions angered over proposed cuts in social services and a reinvigorated “yellow vest” movement, largely dormant since 2019, which is animated by cost-of-living concerns.Authorities said Saturday’s protests in Paris began peacefully with thousands of young people marching alongside families with children before small breakaway groups began setting fires and attacking police. Le Monde quoted the mayor of Paris, Emmanuel Gregoire, saying “the overwhelming majority of demonstrators” wanted to “march calmly,” but that “acts of vandalism” were tarnishing their protest.However anger toward the police has been building during the weeks of protests, which have now seen more than 6,800 persons arrested and more than 1,100 police officers, students, and school staff injured since the demonstrations began.“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,” one 19-year-old protester, identified only as Lola, told Reuters.Another protester, Sonia Mabrouk, 40, who turned out with her high school-aged daughter, told the Associated Press she was angered by government policies that “favor the rich and always hit the poorest people in their wallets.”While initiated largely by teenagers upset over deteriorating school conditions, the protests have been amplified by public anger over the Macron government’s recent introduction of a 2027 budget that calls for deep cuts in public spending to deal with a deficit which, at 5.4 percent of GDP, is far above the European Union target of 3 percent.Generous welfare benefits, a costly health care system, and an early retirement age combined with an aging population all have contributed to the nation’s debt trap, which is exacerbated by rising interest rates. But even a modest attempt in 2023 to raise the retirement age to 64 from 62 was beaten back by public pressure and the loss of the government’s legislative majority.

French Protests Boil Over With Buildings Torched and Hundreds Arrested Nationwide

French Protests Boil Over With Buildings Torched and Hundreds Arrested Nationwide

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