French police clash with some protesters again as demonstrations continue

French police fired tear gas and clashed with some protesters on Saturday as thousands marched across France again in largely peaceful demonstrations against soaring living costs and police violence. 

Police said about 70,000 people demonstrated in Paris alone. France’s interior ministry said about 320,000 people rallied nationwide. 

Officers had made 27 arrests by 2:00 p.m. on Saturday, compared with 217 arrests a week ago. In the southern port city of Marseille, demonstrators clashed with police. In Lyon, France’s third-largest city, people threw projectiles at police, prompting officers to fire tear gas, according to a journalist at the scene.

In the southern city of Toulouse, police used water cannon against an unauthorized protest that drew several thousand people, mostly young demonstrators, some of them in costume.

In Paris, thousands of people, some wearing costumes ranging from Spider-Man to Frankenstein, walked through eastern Paris as a helicopter circled overhead. Placards read: “No need for tear gas to make our future look bleak” and “Dressed up as an angry citizen for Halloween.” Hard-left presidential candidate Jean-Luc Mélenchon, who has accused French President Emmanuel Macron’s government of “taking an increasingly authoritarian turn,” joined the march.

“We say no to the cost of living, no to the far right, yes to high school students’ demands, yes to giving citizens a voice,” Camille Guerin, 31, said in the western city of Nantes. 

In the northern French city of Lille, 47-year-old Aurelie Herrmann danced at the protest.

“I dance because on television they only show damage and destruction, whereas you can perfectly well demonstrate in good spirits,” she said.

An aide to Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said on Friday that police had prepared for street violence on a scale “comparable” to the unrest two weeks ago, when shops were looted and public buildings set ablaze. Nunez said authorities had detected social media calls for Halloween gatherings on Saturday evening that urged protesters to spark a “revolution.” 

Some shopkeepers again prepared by barricading their businesses. 

“Everyone is staying home. No one is going to come and buy anything,” said Wael Boubaker, a cafe employee in eastern Paris, as he covered a storefront with plywood panels.

Alain Di Crescenzo, president of France’s chamber of commerce, said business owners were worried.

“Shopkeepers can’t wait for Saturday to be over,” Di Crescenzo told broadcaster France Inter.

The demonstrations come in a febrile political climate, with presidential elections less than six months away and far-right leader Marine Le Pen leading the polls.

The protest movement, bringing together activists, trade unions, and high school and university students, initially focused on the rising cost of living, inequality, and deteriorating learning conditions. 

Following a security clampdown and serious injuries to some protesters, the movement broadened its demands to include greater protection of civil liberties and the right to protest. This week, student protesters complained that the police did not authorize a march through the center of the French capital, and vowed to stage new blockades of high schools and universities next week. 

With the eurozone’s second-largest economy on the brink of recession and under pressure to rein in its debt, the government has limited scope to appease protesters through additional spending.

Similar youth-led demonstrations have been seen across Europe in recent weeks. Thousands of young Germans took to the streets nationwide on Saturday.