Clashes broke out in Paris Saturday following nationwide protests that drew more than 400,000 people over school funding and rising living costs, leading to nearly 1,000 arrests in a fresh challenge to President Emmanuel Macron.
The Paris march began peacefully, a week after widespread rioting and looting during protests across the country. But near the demonstration's 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.
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: "Don’t run!"
The Interior Ministry put nationwide turnout at 410,000 – fewer than the 550,000 it said protested last weekend – while the CGT union that helped organize some of Saturday's protests estimated nearly 800,000.
The ministry’s estimate included 110,000 in Paris, where authorities confined the march to the city’s southeastern edge, away from the center. The CGT put the number of protesters in Paris at 250,000.
More than a month of unrest that started with protests in high schools for more funding and teachers is testing Macron’s authority in the final months of his presidency before voters choose his successor in May.
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 Mélenchon has backed demonstrators and criticized policing that has left some teenage protesters with life-changing injuries.
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.
Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said police made nearly 1,000 arrests but added that the number is expected to increase significantly as more are counted.
Nunez 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.
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.
In Paris, Benedicte Pittion, a 46–year–old teacher, marched with her 16-year-old daughter, Garance, a high school student – in their first protest together.
"The young people who have been demonstrating have not been heard, and as a parent and as a teacher, I stand with them," Pittion said.
Garance said she'd been "really scared" after seeing the previous weekend’s violence, but felt that staying away would hand the government a victory.
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.
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's outskirts, keeping them away from the center where the Louvre and other major museums closed exceptionally.
"But it won’t stop the movement. It won’t stop students from demanding better conditions in schools," she said.
Other protesters expressed anger about record poverty and wealth inequality under Macron. Camille Chesnier, 27, said she hasn't found work despite having an engineering degree and a master’s degree.
"There are enormous numbers of people in the same situation as me but who aren’t privileged and who find themselves living on the streets and in squats and, frankly, it’s very tough," she said."
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.
Trade unions criticized the bans, calling them violations of freedom of expression, which is protected by the constitution.
Thousands also marched Saturday in Orleans, south of Paris, in a separate peaceful protest against the far right as Le Pen’s National Rally held a two-day congress in the city.
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’s shop.
"I got the call last night," he said. "The owner seemed desperate. He said I was saving his life."
Art Basel, one of the world’s 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.
Student groups want 250,000 more places in higher education and an end to selection through Parcoursup, the national admissions system.
Their joint 10-point plan also calls for more teachers and repairs to schools and universities.
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.
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.
Paris protester Louis Ledoux-Xatard voiced frustration over inequality.
"Looking at countries like the United States, we don’t want to end up like them, where part of the population has everything and the others have nothing," he said.
"I never imagined that I’d be taking to the streets so much before my thirties."