410,000 March Across France as Saturday Protests End in Tear Gas and Arrests in Paris

Protests across France on Saturday drew about 410,000 people nationwide, according to the French Interior Ministry, after a day that began with a largely peaceful march in Paris and ended with police using tear gas, batons and a water cannon in the capital.

Union organizers from the General Confederation of Labor put the nationwide number at about 800,000. The demonstrations, over the high cost of living and the country’s education system, have run since September, when high school students in the southeast of Paris protested for better conditions. Authorities had deployed 70,000 officers nationwide ahead of Saturday’s protests, along with helicopters, armored vehicles and water cannons.

In Paris, thousands gathered at the Porte d’Italie on the city’s southeastern rim for an authorized demonstration. The march had originally been set for the Bastille, near the city’s center, and was changed to the more remote Porte d’Italie at the last minute. Union representative Murielle Guilbert told reporters that it was “scandalous” that protesters had been forbidden from demonstrating where they wished to demonstrate, but participants complied with the change. Police said 110,000 people took part in the Paris event, while union members put the number at 250,000. The front of the march ended without incident, and some chanted “We are not happy” as they peeled away from the Porte de Vincennes.

Arrests in Paris and clashes in other cities

French Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said Saturday that 135 people had been arrested and a variety of weapons had been seized, including metal balls, lead pellets, fireworks, slingshots, steel balls, a katana and airsoft weapons. The Paris prosecutor’s office said 64 people, including six minors, were arrested in Paris and 40 were placed in police custody. Most arrests concerned suspected weapons offenses or participation in a group preparing violence or property damage, the office said. More than 3,000 people were stopped and checked by officers, police said.

As the evening went on, clashes were reported between police and demonstrators, the Agence France-Presse reported. Police used batons and tear gas, and officials said a water cannon was also used. Some protesters threw projectiles at police.

Demonstrations had been banned in Lyon, but about 150 protesters near the city’s center briefly tried to block a road, and police fired tear gas to disperse the group. In Nantes, thousands of protesters broke through police lines to enter the city center, and officers used tear gas and a water cannon to try to disperse them. Tear gas was also deployed in Clermont-Ferrand and Strasbourg, police said, and water cannons were used in Nice, where demonstrations had also been banned. Police said about 17,000 attended an event in Marseille, and officers fired tear gas during clashes with several dozen people near the march’s endpoint.

In Orleans, thousands of people marched against a congress held by Marine Le Pen’s National Rally party. Police put their numbers at 11,000, while organizers said 26,000 took part. Le Pen is launching her campaign to succeed Emmanuel Macron as France’s president, with elections to be held in six months, and surveys show Le Pen is best-placed to win, according to the report. One group of protesters, the Yellow Vests, said it would hold another round of protests on Oct. 31, with rallies and a sit-in outside parliament and city halls nationwide.

Reporting based on coverage by CBS News and Agence France-Presse.