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Clashes erupted in Paris as a mass march drew to a close Saturday, with more than 400,000 people rallying across France over school funding and soaring living costs in a fresh challenge to\u00a0President Emmanuel Macron.\u00a0Police made nearly 1,000 arrests, the government said.<\/p>\n
The Paris march began peacefully, a week after\u00a0widespread rioting and looting\u00a0during protests across the country. But near the demonstration\u2019s endpoint in eastern Paris, masked protesters hurled objects and fireworks at police, who answered with clouds of tear gas, deafening sound grenades and jets of water cannons.<\/p>\n
Officers with megaphones urged protesters to disperse. Some demonstrators panicked as tear-gas canisters landed in their midst, scattering with screams. Veteran protesters shouted after them: \u201cDon\u2019t run!\u201d<\/p>\n
The Interior Ministry put nationwide turnout at 410,000 \u2014 fewer than the 550,000 it said protested last weekend \u2014 while the CGT union that helped organize some of Saturday\u2019s protests estimated nearly 800,000. The ministry\u2019s estimate included 110,000 in Paris, where authorities confined the march to the city\u2019s southeastern edge, away from the center. The CGT put the number of protesters in Paris at 250,000.<\/p>\n
Unrest is challenging Macron\u2019s final months in power<\/p>\n
More than a month of unrest that started with protests in high schools for more funding and teachers is testing\u00a0Macron\u2019s authority in the final months of his presidency\u00a0before voters choose his successor in May.<\/p>\n
The stakes are high: The far-right National Rally party has accused his government of failing to protect the public and urged people to channel their anger into votes for its candidate Marine Le Pen. On the far left, presidential candidate Jean-Luc M\u00e9lenchon has backed demonstrators and criticized policing that has left some teenage protesters with\u00a0life-changing injuries.<\/p>\n
As dusk fell Saturday, violence erupted at the end of some of the 289 protests counted by the Interior Ministry nationwide. Street fires burned in the cities of Marseille and Lyon. Police used tear gas in Lyon, Clermont-Ferrand, Strasbourg and Bordeaux and water cannons in Nice and Nantes, French media reported. In Nice, far-right extremists fought with demonstrators downtown and 11 people were arrested, regional authorities said.<\/p>\n
Interior Minister Laurent Nu\u00f1ez said police made nearly 1,000 arrests but added that the number is expected to increase significantly as more are counted.<\/p>\n
Nu\u00f1ez said beefed-up policing, with 70,000 officers backed by helicopters, armored vehicles and other support, helped prevent a repeat of widespread looting and damage to shops the previous weekend.<\/p>\n
A small protest became a national movement<\/p>\n
What began last month as a protest over staff shortages at one high school southeast of Paris spread nationwide, drawing students demanding more funding for education and workers seeking help with soaring costs for fuel and other necessities.<\/p>\n
In Paris, B\u00e9n\u00e9dicte Pittion, a 46-year-old teacher, marched with her 16-year-old daughter, Garance, a high school student \u2014 in their first protest together.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe young people who have been demonstrating have not been heard, and as a parent and as a teacher, I stand with them,\u201d Pittion said.<\/p>\n
Garance said she\u2019d been \u201creally scared\u201d after seeing the previous weekend\u2019s violence, but felt that staying away would hand the government a victory.<\/p>\n
Macron met high school representatives Friday. They said he had promised to overhaul university admissions, but they called for protests to continue until concrete measures are announced.<\/p>\n
Some protests were banned<\/p>\n
Soumaya Abed, a 58-year-old nurse wearing a red CGT union vest, complained that authorities in Paris wanted to stifle protesters by making them march on the capital\u2019s outskirts, keeping them away from the center where the Louvre and other major museums\u00a0closed exceptionally.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut it won\u2019t stop the movement. It won\u2019t stop students from demanding better conditions in schools,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Other protesters expressed anger about\u00a0record poverty\u00a0and wealth inequality under Macron. Camille Chesnier, 27, said she hasn\u2019t found work despite having an engineering degree and a master\u2019s degree.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are enormous numbers of people in the same situation as me but who aren\u2019t privileged and who find themselves living on the streets and in squats and, frankly, it\u2019s very tough,\u201d she said..\u201d<\/p>\n
In Marseille, police put attendance at 17,000, while the CGT union estimated 100,000. In the southwestern city of Toulouse, 26,500 people joined the protests, according to authorities. Authorities had banned rallies in cities including Lyon, Nice and Montpellier.<\/p>\n
Trade unions criticized the bans, calling them violations of freedom of expression, which is protected by the constitution.<\/p>\n
Thousands also marched Saturday in Orl\u00e9ans, south of Paris, in a separate peaceful protest against the far right as Le Pen\u2019s National Rally held a two-day congress in the city.<\/p>\n
Shops board up and museums close<\/p>\n
Gendarmes stood guard Saturday beneath the Arc de Triomphe and shopkeepers boarded up storefronts across Paris. Near the Saint-Lazare train station Saturday, Akram Ahmed, a 34-year-old contractor, was boarding up an optician\u2019s shop.<\/p>\n
\u201cI got the call last night,\u201d he said. \u201cThe owner seemed desperate. He said I was saving his life.\u201d<\/p>\n
Art Basel, one of the world\u2019s most prestigious contemporary art fairs, opened to the public Friday, but only for the day, with the threat of unrest prompting organizers to cancel the weekend program.<\/p>\n
Students and workers are angry<\/p>\n
Student groups want 250,000 more places in higher education and an end to selection through Parcoursup, the national admissions system.<\/p>\n
Their joint 10-point plan also calls for more teachers and repairs to schools and universities.<\/p>\n
They are also seeking help with everyday costs: an extra 200 euros ($224) a month in student grants and a rent freeze in public student housing.<\/p>\n
Energy prices in France were 21.3% higher in September than a year earlier, helping drive overall inflation to 3.1%, according to the national statistics agency, INSEE.<\/p>\n
Paris protester Louis Ledoux\u2013Xatard voiced frustration over inequality.<\/p>\n
\u201cLooking at countries like the United States, we don\u2019t want to end up like them, where part of the population has everything and the others have nothing,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI never imagined that I\u2019d be taking to the streets so much before my thirties.\u201d<\/p>\n
#French #police #tear #gas #water #cannons #protests #turn #violent<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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