The Paris march began peacefully, a week after widespread rioting and looting during protests across the country. But near the demonstration's endpoint in eastern Paris, masked protesters hurled objects and fireworks at police, who answered with clouds of tear gas, deafening sound grenades and jets of water cannons.
Officers with megaphones urged protesters to disperse. Some demonstrators panicked as tear-gas canisters landed in their midst, scattering with screams. Veteran protesters shouted after them: “Don’t run!”
The Interior Ministry put nationwide turnout at 410,000 — fewer than the 550,000 it said protested last weekend — while the CGT union that helped organize some of Saturday's protests estimated nearly 800,000. The ministry’s estimate included 110,000 in Paris, where authorities confined the march to the city’s southeastern edge, away from the center. The CGT put the number of protesters in Paris at 250,000.
Unrest is challenging Macron's final months in power
More than a month of unrest that started with protests in high schools for more funding and teachers is testing Macron’s authority in the final months of his presidency before voters choose his successor in May.
The stakes are high: The far-right National Rally party has accused his government of failing to protect the public and urged people to channel their anger into votes for its candidate Marine Le Pen. On the far left, presidential candidate Jean-Luc Mélenchon has backed demonstrators and criticized policing that has left some teenage protesters with life-changing injuries.
As dusk fell Saturday, violence erupted at the end of some of the 289 protests counted by the Interior Ministry nationwide. Street fires burned in the cities of Marseille and Lyon. Police used tear gas in Lyon, Clermont-Ferrand, Strasbourg and Bordeaux and water cannons in Nice and Nantes, French media reported. In Nice, far-right extremists fought with demonstrators downtown and 11 people were arrested, regional authorities said.
Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez said police made nearly 1,000 arrests but added that the number is expected to increase significantly as more are counted.
Nuñez said beefed-up policing, with 70,000 officers backed by helicopters, armored vehicles and other support, helped prevent a repeat of widespread looting and damage to shops the previous weekend.
