Hundreds of thousands of demonstrators marched in France on Saturday, with largely peaceful rallies giving way to clashes in Paris and Marseille as night fell despite a huge security operation aimed at preventing a repeat of last week’s unrest.
The Interior Ministry said 410,000 people took part in protests nationwide, though unions said the true figure was twice as high.
The main demonstration took place on the southeastern fringes of Paris, where at least 110,000 people turned outto denounce rising living costs and growing inequality.
The atmosphere deteriorated sharply after the rally ended. Riot police fired tear gas and water cannon at a group of around 500 hooded youths before they eventually dispersed on a cold, rainy evening.
In France’s second city, Marseille, youths set fire to rubbish bins to block roads, and hurled rocks and bottles at security forces. Police said several stores, including two jewellery shops, were ransacked.
Clashes also flared in Lyon, Bordeaux, Grenoble, Clermont-Ferrand, Lille, Rennes, Nantes and Toulouse.
“In almost every march we saw the formation of these high-risk groups. They broke away from the main body and sought to commit acts of violence,” said Interior Minister Laurent Nunez, accusing far-left activists and criminal gangs of seeking to foment trouble.
Paris under lockdown as police confront protesters
Authorities deployed 70,000 police officers and gendarmes, 10,000 more than a week earlier, after conceding they had underestimated the scale of the unrest on October 17.
Nunez told reporters the violence was less intense than a week ago, when looters and vandals went on the rampage. “What changed was anticipation,” he said.
He also said far-right activists had sought confrontations with leftist groups in the southern cities of Nice and Montpellier, opening a potential new front in the disturbances.
Much of central Paris took on the appearance of a city under lockdown, with shopkeepers boarding up storefronts, museums closing their doors and more than 20 metro stations shut.
Business groups urged retailers to remain closed after thousands of shops and businesses were damaged or looted across France last weekend.
“There are hardly any customers, so it’s not really worth staying open,” said Oskar, manager of a Kiton boutique in Paris.
Several of the capital’s best-known cultural institutions, including the Louvre, the Musee d’Orsay and the Paris Opera, closed for the day as a precaution, leaving tourists frustrated.
“Everything’s boarded up and we’re not quite sure where we should be,” said Xavier Dolliole, a tourist from the US city of New Orleans.
Anti-government protests spread across Europe
The nationwide disorder began with small student demonstrations in suburban Paris last month to denounce school conditions. It swiftly broadened into a wider protest against the government’s economic policies and inspired demonstrations in neighbouring countries.
On Saturday Belgian police used tear gas and pepper spray as they clashed in Brussels with anti-government demonstrators, with protests also taking place in a number of Italian cities for a second weekend, and in Albania.
Macron faces mounting pressure over social unrest
Hard-left leader Jean-Luc Melenchon, who joined the Paris rally, predicted the protests would continue until President Emmanuel Macron, whose mandate expires next year, addressed the social malaise in France, one of the world’s richest nations.
“Given the current situation, I think he will come to understand that this will happen again every week. There is still time for (Macron) to give in. After that, the only thing left to him will be the exit door,” Melenchon told reporters.
Many demonstrators accused the government of overreacting to last week’s turmoil, as soldiers were dispatched to patrol the Champs-Elysees, a grand boulevard lined with luxury shops and restaurants.
“We shed tears for shops, not for the people who are being impoverished all year round,” said Clara Lebbadi, a 22-year-old arts student.
“My friend and I almost didn’t come because we were scared, but we came precisely because it’s important not to let repression win,” she added.
Far-right tensions add to France’s political turmoil
The first authorised march on Saturday passed off peacefully in Orléans, around 120 km (75 miles) south of Paris, where demonstrators rallied against Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Rally, which is holding a party congress in the city.
A shooting west of Paris on Friday heightened tensions. A gunman suspected of acting out of Islamophobic hatred killed one person and wounded four others, including a 12-year-old girl.
“We have come to tell the far right, face-to-face, that we are not afraid,” said Bally Bagayoko, the mayor of Saint-Denis and a member of Melenchon’s France Unbowed party.