Thousands protested across France against Macron’s government.
Police arrested nearly 1,000 people amid clashes.
School conditions and protest restrictions have fuelled public anger.
The French police made around 1000 arrests on Saturday after hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets for another day of protest.
French Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez said "several thousand radical activists gathered at the rear of the march, including around 500 individuals identified as rioters", AFP reported. Nuñez later said that police had arrested nearly 1,000 people by the end of the day. He added that the number of arrests was expected to rise further.
French authorities and trade unions gave different estimates of the number of people who took part in Saturday’s protests. The interior ministry put the turnout at around 410,000, while unions estimated that nearly 800,000 people joined the demonstrations, according to the BBC.
Saturday’s march in Paris began in a relaxed atmosphere, with brass bands playing and families, including children and grandparents, taking part.
Some protesters held banners criticising police actions and calling for the right to demonstrate. Their signs read: “Oppression breeds rebellion” and “The right to protest”.
The situation changed near Porte de Vincennes, at the eastern end of the march, where groups of masked men dressed in black appeared. They did not seem to have been part of the peaceful demonstration. Some threw stones and glass bottles at police, who responded with tear gas, water cannon and stun grenades, Guardian reported.
Police used tear gas in Lyon, Lille, Montpellier, Nantes and Toulouse to stop protesters from entering city centres. In Marseille, clashes between demonstrators and police broke out, while several bins were set on fire.
Anger Against Macron
Anger against French President Emmanuel Macron was a major theme at Saturday’s protests. Demonstrators criticised his government for banning non-union rallies it labelled “illegitimate” and preventing protesters from entering city centres.
Jean-Luc Mélenchon, a radical left presidential candidate who joined the Paris march, urged Macron to “give in” and respond to France’s growing social discontent. Otherwise, he warned, demonstrations would continue. “Given the current situation, I think he will come to understand that this will happen again every week,” Mélenchon said.
The protests against the government began in mid-September, when high school students aged 15 to 18 took to the streets over poor conditions in their schools. Their complaints included staff shortages, leaking and crumbling buildings, and overcrowded classrooms without enough chairs. The protests soon developed into the biggest youth movement in years, drawing support from trade unions, teachers and parents.
