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Scuffles and fires break out as protesters rally across France, joining students · Best of: Features

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  Clashes, fires and looting break out as protesters rally across France joining
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  students. Written by Sylvie Corbet and Jade Le Dele. This article is
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  being read by an automated voice generated by Everlett. Paris, the AP.
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  Violent clashes, fires, and looting marred demonstrations across France on Saturday as
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  hundreds of thousands of people marched against rising living costs and poor
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  conditions in schools. About four hundred people were arrested nationwide, Interior Minister
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  Laurent Nunet said, Nunez said one hundred and ten marches drew about
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  five hundred fifty thousand people across the country. Organizers, including the C
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  G T labor union and students organizations, said about eight hundred thousand
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  demonstrators took to the streets. Nunez described troublemakers as extremely violent, radical
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  far left groups, whom, he said, sought confrontations with police and targeted
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  public buildings, including city halls and local government offices He said those
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  groups have been joined by offenders willing to loot shops. Most of
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  those arrested are adults, he said. Some incidents were still ongoing in
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  central Paris on Saturday evening. There is no place for violence in
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  our Republic, French President Emmanuel Macron said in a message on X.
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  Those who vandalized property, attacked government offices and businesses, and even looted
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  our town halls will be prosecuted and punished. We will stand united
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  against those who sow chaos, and who prevent people from peacefully expressing
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  their demands, Macron added. Fires and looting hit Paris and other cities.
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  In Paris police fired tear gas and water cannons to push back
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  people wearing hoods and masks and throwing fireworks, paving stones and other
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  objects at officers in the Place de la Republique, northeast of the
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  Paris city centre. Associated press reporters saw thick black smoke rising from
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  cars, bicycles, and other vehicles, and trash bins on fire. A newspaper
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  kiosk also burned, while several shops were looted. Several people have been
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  injured in the clashes. Many Metro stations were closed Saturday at police
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  request, including those around the
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  Champs Elysees and near the Presidential Palace, Parliament, and Government offices. Meanwhile,
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  the majority of peaceful protesters joined a march that moved toward northwestern
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  Paris. The crowd chanted France's national anthem and waved flags, and some
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  people played trumpets and violins. In Lyon, France's third largest city, where
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  about twenty thousand protesters joined the march, a fire broke out inside
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  a tourist office. In the southern port city of Marseille, some shops
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  and a municipal police station were damaged, while protesters briefly forced their
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  way into the lobby of City Hall. Nunez also reported violence by
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  mass groups against local government buildings in Bordeaux, break in attempts at
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  Lille and Calais city halls, and at a police station in Brest.
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  Violence also broke out in Rennes, Toulouse, Montpellier, and Grenoble, among other
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  cities. In Limoges, a middle sized town in central France, the city
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  hall was set on fire. Flames were still raging Saturday evening. Living
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  costs and school conditions fuel anger. Protesters across France responded to calls
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  on social media to revive the Yellow Vest movement which emerged in
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  twenty eighteen against social injustice. Demonstrators expressed widespread frustration and anger at
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  the government as gasoline, energy and food prices have spiked in recent
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  months. Sonia Mabruk, forty, said she came from a suburb west of
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  Paris with her daughter, a high school student, to protest everything that's
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  going wrong, particularly the neglect of public services. Mabruk, who took part
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  in them.
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  Yellow Vest protests, criticized policies that favor the rich and always hit
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  the poorest people in their wallets. Many protesters could be seen wearing
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  the flourcent yellow vest that became a symbol of the twenty eighteen
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  rallies. There's a general sense of frustration and anger, Mabruk said, as
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  she marched alongside peaceful demonstrators of all ages. Student groups protesting since
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  mid-September through school blockades have urged supporters to join them. The CGT,
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  one of France's major labor unions, also backed the protests calling for
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  higher wages and pensions, lower prices, and the protection of public services
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  that meet people's needs. Far left presidential candidate Jean-Luc Melanchon, who backed
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  the
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  high school students movement, also took part in the Paris protest Saturday.
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  Protestors injury renews scrutiny of policing. Authorities opened an investigation after a
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  young protests was badly injured Saturday, and lost a and in Saint
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  Etienne, Nunes said. He declined to confirm French media reports the injury
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  was caused by a police grenade explosion. The incident comes as the
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  police have drawn sharp scrutiny over their use of grenades hand. Other
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  riot control weapons during recent demonstrations. In the past weeks, France has
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  seen thousands of arrests, hundreds of injuries and schools set on fire
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  as the new school year descended into nationwide student protests that are
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  influencing the country's presidential election campaign and drawing international attention. Among
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  protesters, particularly gruesome wounds suffered by some teenagers have been blamed on
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  police riot control weapons. Nunez suspended the use of a type of
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  police stun grenade against high school demonstrators after a fifteen year old
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  lost a hand. But the suspension does not apply to other protests,
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  including those staged Saturday.