The police in France have arrested 135 people, as about 410,000 demonstrators returned to the streets on Saturday for the second consecutive weekend in protest against the rising cost of living.
About 70,000 policemen were deployed across the country to prevent a repeat of rioting and looting that trailed last week’s demonstrations.
However, clashes still erupted, prompting the officers to use their batons, fire tear gas canisters, and water cannons in some cities, CNN reported.
The city of Nice is said to have deployed the largest number of police officers in its history to attend the protest.
A march by some demonstrators had ended peacefully, but the remaining group of protesters, mostly young people dressed in black, threw objects at police officers at the Porte de Vincennes.
In other areas, the protests took on a carnival-like atmosphere.
Some protesters lit flares, while booms from police stun grenades could be heard as they erupted in the area.
Viral videos captured police in Vincennes, Paris, preventing protesters’ attempt to erect a barricade, while in Montpellier, protesters tried to force their way through a police barricade but failed.
Another video in Clermont-Ferrand showed police firing a crowd-control grenade into the air, which was said to have fallen directly onto a protester who is reported to have lost several of his fingers.
In Marseille, protesters set barricades on fire, while in Bordeaux, demonstrators ripped boards from a shop.
Police also fired tear gas canisters at protesters in Lyon, Lille, Toulouse, and Nantes.
The Paris Police Department, in a statement on X, said some demonstrators tried to break into a car dealership, but law enforcement stopped them.
Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez told French media, BFM TV, that almost 1,000 people have been arrested since the protests started last week, adding that “this number will increase.”
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