Up to 70,000 police deployed to curb violence at protests in France – National

PARIS (AP) — France deployed thousands of police Saturday for new protests over school funding and soaring living costs, seeking to head off a weekend of looting, burning cars and attacks on public buildings. In Paris, authorities restricted the main parade to the city’s southeastern edge and kept it away from the city center.

Thousands of people had already rallied on Saturday afternoon in Orléans, south of Paris, in a separate protest against the far right as Marine Le Pen’s National Rally held a two-day congress in the city.

Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez said up to 70,000 officers would be deployed nationwide, supported by helicopters, armored vehicles and water cannon.

What started last month as a protest over staff shortages at a secondary school southeast of Paris has grown into a national movement. Students demanding better schools and workers seeking higher wages and pensions have fueled anger over living standards in the final months of President Emmanuel Macron’s presidency.

Macron met with high school representatives on Friday. They say he promised to overhaul university admissions, but called for protests to continue until concrete action is announced.

More than half a million people took to the streets last Saturday. Around 3,000 shops across France were damaged or looted over the weekend.

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Ahead of the new protests, Paris landmarks were boarded up, shopkeepers boarded up shop windows, and police stood guard under the Arc de Triomphe.

Shops are closed and museums are closed

Police stood guard under the Arc de Triomphe as shopkeepers boarded up storefronts across Paris. Near Saint-Lazare train station on Saturday, Akram Ahmed, a 34-year-old contractor, was boarding an optician’s shop.

“I got a call last night,” he said. “The owner looked desperate. He said I saved his life.”
Major museums, including the Louvre, the Orsay Museum, the Picasso Museum and the Grand Palais – where a major Cézanne exhibition is on display – were closed on Saturday.

Art Basel, one of the world’s most prestigious contemporary art fairs, opened to the public on Friday, but only for the day, with threats of riots prompting organizers to cancel the weekend’s programming.
Some protests have been banned

Police changed the Paris route on Friday, replacing the planned Bastille-to-Nation march with a route between Porte d’Italie and Porte de Vincennes. At the Bastille, the initial starting point, police used megaphones to tell people to leave or face fines of 135 euros.

Protest marches are scheduled in Paris and Marseille, but several other rallies, including in Lyon, Nice and Montpellier, have been banned by local authorities. In Lyon, French media reported that police used tear gas early Saturday.

Trade unions criticized the ban, calling it a violation of freedom of expression protected by the constitution.

The centrist Macron has entered a crisis late in his term, with his popularity at its lowest point since he took office in 2017. He has said the measures were necessary to protect city centres, businesses and public buildings.

Nuñez acknowledged Monday that police had lost control in some cities during last weekend’s unrest. He offered to resign, but Macron refused.

In Orléans, about 110 kilometers (70 miles) south of Paris, thousands of people took to the streets for an anti-right-wing protest. The meeting was held on the sidelines of a meeting of Le Pen’s nationalist and anti-immigration party ahead of presidential elections next spring.

Students and workers are angry

Student groups want 250,000 more places in higher education and an end to selection through Parcoursup, the national admissions system.

Their joint 10-point plan also calls for more teachers and improvements to schools and universities.
They are also seeking help with everyday costs: an additional 200 euros per month in the form of a student grant and a rent freeze on state student housing.

“Money is now concentrated in the hands of a few people,” said Victoria Ambrosini, art critic and art teacher at the University of Saint-Denis. “And that’s no longer possible.”

– Associated Press writer Tom Nouvian contributed to this report.

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