Paris protests in France ended with almost 1,000 arrests across France on Saturday as mass demonstrations turned violent in Paris and several other cities. More than 400,000 people took to the streets, and the unrest spread beyond the capital into Marseilles, Lyon, Bordeaux, Toulouse and Rennes.
Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez thanked authorities and officers after the day’s police response. Laurent Nuñez wrote that "These acts are unacceptable," and said "individuals from the far-left and radical far-left" had "once again sought to sow disorder, especially as the marches were dispersing."
Paris and the security response
Authorities had already planned a significantly ramped up security operation after the chaotic scenes across France last weekend. Some 70,000 security personnel were mobilised ahead of Saturday's planned protests, and military personnel from Opération Sentinelle were also deployed to help protect key locations and free up police.
In Paris, a Euronews journalist on the ground saw riot police fire tear gas and charge crowds around Porte de Vincennes on the southeastern edge of the city. Police also deployed a water cannon to break up demonstrators and carried out checks of people moving through nearby Nation square.
France beyond Paris
The unrest was not limited to Paris. Clashes with police also occurred in Marseilles, Lyon, Bordeaux, Toulouse and Rennes, while Laurent Nuñez pointed to Paris, Marseille, Lyon, Grenoble, Nantes, Angers and Lille in his social media post.
Most demonstrations went ahead peacefully, but clashes with police still occurred in several cities. That mix left authorities managing a large protest turnout and scattered disorder at the same time, with the biggest confirmed shift being the scale of the police deployment needed across France on Saturday.
What brought more than 400,000 people into the streets on Saturday remains the open issue left by the protests themselves. For people in Paris and the other cities named by Laurent Nuñez, the immediate reality was a day of mass mobilisation, riot police, tear gas, and arrests on a scale that forced a nationwide security response.
