France deploys 70,000 officers for second week of cost-of-living protests

French authorities deployed 70,000 police officers on Saturday to manage nationwide demonstrations over the cost of living. Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez said the deployment included helicopters, armored vehicles, and water cannons to prevent a repeat of the unrest from the previous weekend.

Nuñez reported that police arrested 135 people across the country. Officers seized a variety of items from demonstrators, including metal balls, lead pellets, fireworks, slingshots, steel balls, and improvised weapons. The list of confiscated items also included a katana and airsoft weapons. Nuñez stated that there had been no major incident in the country so far.

Protests were particularly tense in Lyon, where demonstrations had been officially banned. Approximately 150 protesters near the city center attempted to block a road. Police used tear gas to disperse the group. A 21-year-old student speaking to Agence France-Presse described the police presence as highly mobile, noting that officers dispersed marches before they fully formed.

In Orléans, thousands of people marched against a congress hosted by Marine Le Pen’s National Rally party. Le Pen is using the event to launch her bid to succeed President Emmanuel Macron in elections scheduled for six months from now. Polls indicate Le Pen is currently the leading candidate. Protesters chanted slogans demanding Macron’s resignation and Le Pen’s imprisonment. Police counted 11,000 participants, while organizers claimed the crowd reached 26,000. The march ended peacefully in the early afternoon.

The mood in Paris was described by authorities as calm. Hundreds of people gathered at the Porte d'Italie for the city’s only authorized march. Police moved the location from the planned site at the Bastille to the southeastern edge of the city at the last minute. Murielle Guilbert, a union representative, called the change scandalous. She argued that wages have not risen to the level they should be.

Lucas, a student who spoke to CBS Saturday Morning, said it was normal for people to be angry. The protests have disrupted daily life in the capital. Major museums are closed, and many businesses have boarded up their storefronts. Art Basel opened on Friday for a single day, with organizers cancelling the weekend program. Some venues related to the first NFL game in France were shut on Saturday, though the match against the New Orleans Saints is still scheduled for Sunday.

A soccer match between Paris Saint-Germain and Olympique Lyonnais originally planned for Sunday has been moved to Monday night. About 3,000 shops across France were damaged or looted during the previous weekend of unrest. The protests began last month when high school students in the southeast of Paris demonstrated for better conditions. The movement widened as people demanded relief from rising living costs.

The Yellow Vests, a movement that emerged about eight years ago to protest against Macron, announced they will hold more demonstrations on October 31. They plan rallies and a sit-in outside parliament and city halls. The group condemned what it called the authoritarian drift of the government. Unrest also spread to other European countries, including Italy, Albania, Spain, and Portugal.