More than 1,300 demo-goers arrested and 50 police hurt in violent French protests - as National Rally' Marine Le Pen to kick off presidential campaign with rally speech

Police arrested 1,314 people in weekend protests across France, with 53 officers hurt in the clashes.

The arrests occurred as violence broke out on the margins of mass demonstrations in major cities on Saturday over the high cost of living.

It was the second consecutive weekend of unrest in France, which is heading to presidential elections in April and May to choose a successor to Emmanuel Macron, who is reaching his two–term limit.

Marine Le Pen is set to speak to 10,000 members of her National Rally (RN) party in the city of Orleans this afternoon, a day after protests sweeping the country again flared into violence.

France's far–right candidate is hoping to succeed President Macron and is the front runner to takeover, according to the polls.

The violent unrest in France in recent weeks has been perceived as beneficial for Le Pen's campaign, who has frequently accused the current PM's centrist government of being soft on violent protesters and lacking authority.   

More than 400,000 people marched in major French cities yesterday to protest the rising cost of living, with groups of masked youths breaking away to provoke police, who responded with tear gas and water cannon. 

Officers faced 'an extremely elevated level of violence' from black–clad 'ultra–left' extremists who had trailed in the demonstrations, Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said late Saturday.

The interior ministry said police responded to 75 fires during Saturday's protests, adding that 24 shops were looted.

'Several investigations have been opened,' it said in a statement, without giving details. It said that the rest of Saturday night, after the clashes had died down, was 'calm'.

The ministry statement on Sunday did not say how many protesters were hurt.

Late Saturday, Interior Minister Laurent Nunez spoke of two serious injuries among protesters: one in Toulouse and one in Clermont–Ferrand.

The Toulouse prefecture, which reports to the interior ministry, said that a 20–year–old man was seriously hurt with a wound to his hand.

A street medic who tended demonstrators said, on condition of anonymity, that the man had 'several fingers' blown off his right hand.

The prefecture covering Clermont–Ferrand said a man there also had a hand hurt, but did not suffer the loss of any fingers.

A French regional daily, La Nouvelle Republique, reported that a man in Poitiers was hurt in his left eye, showing a photo of a man holding his face.

The newspaper's photographer said he was a 19–year–old who was wounded during a charge by riot police firing stun grenades and tear gas.

There have been several instances in recent weeks, during student protests in France, of people being maimed by police stun grenades or tear gas grenades.

It was not known if the injuries reported from Saturday were from those police weapons. Officials said investigations had been opened in at least some of the cases.

A week earlier, on October 17, similar nationwide marches took place, also against rising inflation sent surging by the war in the Middle East. 

These, too, degenerated into street violence, with public buildings vandalised and hundreds of shops looted.

The mass rallies were fed by four weeks of student protests across France, over classroom conditions and access to university places, which at times also descended into clashes.

Unions and Yellow Vest protesters have vowed to keep up their street marches in the weeks ahead, pointing to a febrile period as the elections draw near.

Police were on Sunday filtering traffic going into Orleans, after thousands of counter–protesters opposed to Le Pen and her anti–immigration, nationalist RN marched in the city on Saturday chanting anti–fascist slogans.

Police put their numbers at 13,000, while organisers estimated the turnout at twice that.  

Despite the protests, polling has shown French voters, angry over Macron's perceived detachment over his two terms and his recent orders to curb the protests, are turning to more extremist politics.

An Ipsos survey published Saturday suggested Le Pen would score 32 to 34 percent of the vote in the first round of the election, with a far–left rival, Jean–Luc Melenchon, getting 17 percent. Centrist candidates from mainstream parties trailed them.

Asked about the protest violence, a majority of the 1,500 people questioned in the survey – 58 percent – said they felt anger.

It found 81 percent believed the government was 'responsible for this situation', while 79 percent thought radical political groups were, 62 percent blamed the left, and 52 percent blamed the police.

If Le Pen wins the two–stage presidential elections in April and May, she has vowed to cut the cost of living through capped household energy bills, reduced taxes and trimming France's contribution to the European Union.

She is also critical of NATO, and of France's support of Ukraine as it battles Russia's invasion.

The RN, which portrays itself as a party of law and order, has also sided strongly with the police in the current unrest.

The head of Le Pen's party, Jordan Bardella, whom she intends to make prime minister if she becomes president, has visited police stations to underline that credential. 

Regardless, whoever wins the presidency will find limited room to throw money around to placate various clamouring interest groups.

France's public debt and budget deficit have climbed well beyond the ceilings EU member countries are meant to stick to.

Macron's government is trying to get a cost–cutting budget adopted, but faces headwinds from both the sustained protests demanding more spending and the political jockeying by parties eyeing power.

As Macron sees out the final months of his presidency, he has to tread a line between cracking down on street violence and opening dialogue with unions, students and other groups to attempt to restore order.

Although the French president has not invoked a state of emergency, he has ordered bans on non–union demonstrations deemed 'illegitimate', and officials under him have imposed bans on protests in city centres and localised curfews in certain zones.

Many protesters on Saturday raged against the measures, describing them as an assault on the French right to protest.

The Yellow Vest movement, which challenged Macron eight years ago with street disruptions, has called for another day of protests next Saturday.

And the powerful CGT union, prominent in the demonstrations, is urging a campaign of strikes starting from November 5.

READ MORE: French riot police hit far–Left mobs with water cannon as protests continue for second weekend