Authorities are also keeping a close watch over the hard-right National Rally party’s congress in Orléans this weekend, which has drawn both supporters and counterprotesters. Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez said 135 people had been arrested across France as of 1 pm on Saturday.
Fresh cost-of-living protests kicked off in France on Saturday as authorities work to avoid a repeat of violent scenes across the country last weekend.
In Lyon, riot police once again filled the streets and reportedly fired tear gas to break up a gathering of around 150 protesters who attempted to block a road near the city centre – where restrictions on demonstrations were in place.
“The police are really mobile. They come and disperse marches before they even form,” a 21-year-old student at the protest told the AFP news agency.
French Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez said 135 people had been arrested as of 1 pm on Saturday.
Mass protests last Saturday saw widespread violence and clashes with police in several cities, with buildings and vehicles set alight and masked individuals smashing shop windows and looting stores. Unrest continued in Paris last Sunday, as masked youths erected flaming barricades and police charged crowds.
The French government has ramped up security operations this weekend, and many businesses have taken matters into their own hands and boarded up windows or closed for the day.
A last-minute route change to a planned Paris protest has prompted pushback from unions and politicians on the left in France, who have argued that the move could scatter demonstrators and fuel further chaos.
Police had initially approved a march between Bastille and Nation squares in the east of the capital but overturned the decision on Friday, instead proposing a route between Porte d’Italie and Porte de Vincennes along the city’s southeastern edge.
To the south of the capital, authorities are also keeping a close watch over the hard-right National Rally party’s congress in Orléans.
The event, which will see both Marine Le Pen and Jordan Bardella speak, has drawn both supporters and counterprotesters, raising fears of clashes between the groups.
Police say they have forces stationed across various arrival points into the city and throughout the centre, with officers carrying out checks and seizing items that could be used to “disrupt the smooth running of the planned events.”
Police said at around midday that they had seized multiple items “intended for use in acts of violence or to create a hostile atmosphere,” in locations including Orléans, Pau, Rennes, Marseille, and Tours.
Source: www.euronews.com
