About 146,000 people rallied across France on Saturday for a fourth straight Saturday of protests against the rising cost of living, the Interior Ministry said, including 46,000 in Paris — while the unions put the turnout far higher, at 250,000 nationwide and 75,000 in the capital.
The movement began on October 17 with calls on social media against soaring fuel prices and the cost of living, and has since been joined by high school and university students protesting over the Parcoursup admissions platform, the state of school buildings and unfilled teaching posts. In Paris, the march set off from Place de la République toward Place de la Nation on a route authorised by the police.
By early evening, police moved to clear Place de la Nation, where several thousand people were still gathered, using charges, tear gas and stun grenades. Police said a group of about 200 people attacked officers as they arrested a man who had set fire to a rubbish bin. In Lyon, in the southeast, police fired tear gas to disperse several hundred people who were blocking a road in an unauthorised gathering.
About 70,000 police officers and gendarmes were deployed across the country. Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez had warned that authorities would be "ready and waiting" for anyone engaging in rioting or looting; by mid-afternoon, officials reported more than 15,600 preventative checks and 18 arrests, down from 27 at the same point a week earlier, and turnout itself was sharply lower than in previous weeks.
The pressure is now moving to the negotiating table: Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu is scheduled to meet union and employer representatives on Monday to discuss wages and purchasing power, with France's presidential election due in April. For French households, the fight is over the same squeeze families everywhere are feeling — fuel, food and rent rising faster than pay — and Saturday's smaller crowds still forced the government to open talks on wages.
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