France: Protests against the "high cost of living" marred by scenes of chaos

From Marseille to Paris, via Lyon, strong tensions and heavy clashes marred Saturday's national mobilization of "anger" against the "high cost of living", which brought together tens of thousands of demonstrators throughout France, six months before the presidential election.

"Overthrow the system", "we're taking the Bastille": this mobilization, which brought together protests led by the yellow vests, high school and university students, employees, but also climate activists and anti-fascists, sometimes took on insurrectionary overtones, like the intrusion into the hall of the Marseille town hall where a bust of Marianne, symbol of the Republic, was overturned on the ground.

Several dozen protesters briefly entered the hall after forcing open the door, shouting "This is the Revolution", before being dispersed by law enforcement, an AFP journalist observed.

The left-leaning mayor of France's second largest city, Benoît Payan, told BFMTV that he had received assurances from President Emmanuel Macron that police reinforcements would be sent.

In Paris, around the statue of the Republic, in the square of the same name, clashes took place between several hundred people and the police, from midday onwards, even before the start of the demonstration.

Law enforcement used tear gas and a water cannon to repel masked protesters, some of whom used fireworks mortars, AFP journalists observed.

University burned down

Two people climbed the statue, near which a car was set on fire, to dress it in a yellow vest emblazoned with "2026 police maim high school students".

"This time we will win and bring down this system," says Marjorie Keters, yellow vest and spokesperson for the political collective "For a popular and social ecology", as the main demonstration itself proceeds peacefully towards Place de Clichy.

In Lyon, a branch of the tourist office was ransacked and set on fire, an AFP journalist observed.

An inter-ministerial crisis cell is due to meet again at 5:00 PM to review the situation.

Up until midday, authorities had recorded 140 actions with 32,800 people in the provinces and 166 arrests across the entire national territory, announced the entourage of Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez in a message to the press.

Throughout the morning, strict controls were carried out in the capital to enforce the bans on demonstrations in certain sectors of the capital and to intervene around several unauthorized processions.

Around twenty people were arrested after a protest outside the CNews headquarters in Paris. Projectiles were thrown and windows were broken, prompting police intervention to disperse the crowd, according to the Paris police headquarters.

A building belonging to the Faculty of Arts in Rouen was notably hit early Saturday by a fire that was likely of "criminal origin", according to a source close to the investigation.

Despite these numerous incidents, many protesters responded to the call to make their demands heard, in large cities as well as smaller ones, in Niort, Valenciennes.

"At the end of the month, I have nothing left, prices are rising but not wages. We can't take it anymore, we're suffocating," denounces Franck, a civil servant in his forties who demonstrated in Guéret with about 400 people.

"Targeted operations"

On the website 17octobregiletjaune.net , the call to action was also addressed to residents of the neighborhoods, farmers, workers or retirees, invited to take to the streets and roundabouts or around service stations, tollbooths or traffic arteries.

Few blockades were observed by AFP journalists, although some roundabouts were occupied in Rennes, Langon (Gironde) or Marmande (Lot-et-Garonne), echoing the historic yellow vest movement of 2018-2019.

Six months before the presidential election, the call to revive this movement, which had marked Emmanuel Macron's first term, was accompanied by multiple unknowns, on the first day of the school holidays and while an inter-union group called on public and private sector employees to demonstrate and strike on November 5, particularly for wages and public services.

Emmanuel Macron had issued an appeal for "calm" on Friday from Brussels.

But Beauvau had not hidden its fear of "outbreaks (...) in the marches, particularly in Paris and in large cities".

"The probability that the far left will cause the afternoon (Saturday) marches to degenerate is very high," said the entourage of Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez on Saturday at midday, denouncing "violent and targeted operations" in certain places in France.

The president of the National Rally, Jordan Bardella, stated on X that "only professionals of chaos" were in the streets on Saturday and not "working France".

The leader of La France insoumise and presidential candidate Jean-Luc Mélenchon denounced on the same network the "images of violence" broadcast continuously by news channels while "tens of thousands of people" march "calmly" in the streets.

AFP