Half a million protesters sweep France in major show of youth unrest

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Clouds of tear gas fired by police filled the streets of Paris on Saturday, as anti-government protests stretched beyond the French capital.

Some 550,000 protesters hit the streets across France, including 110,000 in Paris, interior minister Laurent Nunez said. Organizers estimated even higher turnout. Protests also took place in Rennes, Lyon and Marseilles this weekend.

Photos emerged of people climbing atop historical statues and buildings set alight , with protesters in Lille and Marseilles reportedly breaking into government buildings as dusk fell.

“There’s an accumulation of wealth and power that’s completely out of control,” one protester, who gave her name as Pauline, told CNN in Paris on Saturday.

“We’re also here to support the youth. There are victories, but if we look at the bigger picture, it’s not going in the right direction,” the 36-year-old added.

Another demonstrator complained of “less democracy” and a “concentration of power” under President Emmanuel Macron’s leadership. “There are billionaires who control the media,” Louise, 38, told CNN. “We are fighting to change things.”

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This weekend’s massive protests follow sweeping student-led rallies that gripped parts of France last month, sparking a broader, multi-coalition movement against crumbling schools, the spiking cost of living, and perceived government inaction. The rallies have become emblematic of long-simmering, intergenerational anger among people who say their calls for social and political change are going unmet by negligent governments.

As night fell in Paris, groups of young people looted and started fires as the protest ended, prompting police to respond with tear gas and baton charges in the narrow streets.

Macron condemned “sowers of chaos” for interfering with peaceful protest, and warned late on Saturday that “those who have broken, attacked (police) prefectures, as well as businesses, looted even our town halls, will be prosecuted and punished.”

“We do not back down in the face of rioters and those who’ve come to attack law enforcement,” said the Paris Police Prefecture – the body that oversees the Paris Police Force, emergency services and various other administrative departments supervising unit – adding that its staffers stood “their ground with courage and professionalism.”

At least 195 people have been detained so far, against the backdrop of mounting criticism over authorities’ forceful clamp down on demonstrators. Earlier in the week, police response to protests had left a 14-year-old boy with a fractured jaw. Another police officer was captured on camera using a headlock on a girl in the northwestern area of Alençon, an action now prohibited by law.

A protester in the city of Saint-Étienne, about 40 miles southwest of Lyon, lost his hand during a march there on Saturday, a police source told CNN affiliate BFMTV. This is the second reported instance of a demonstrator losing their hand in the current wave of student protests.

A student in the northeastern city of Lens lost his hand after reportedly picking up a grenade earlier this month, prompting the temporary suspension of one type of stun grenade by police. That ban, which still allowed police to use several different grenades, has now been rescinded.

Overall, authorities said that the “vast majority of individuals” had demonstrated peacefully on Saturday, according to BFMTV.

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Posting on X, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, leader of the far-left La France Insoumise Party, emphasized that the majority of demonstrators on Sunday had made their point peacefully. “While news channels are flooded with images of violence in dozens of cities, everything is unfolding peacefully with tens of thousands of people calmly mobilized. Two worlds, two realities.”

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Youth activists led solidarity protests in Belgium, Albania and Italy on Saturday as well.

Earlier this fall, high school students in France organized scattered protests demanding reduced class sizes, increased spending on teachers, investments in infrastructure designed to withstand the climate crisis and end to police violence against young people.

In the past decade and a half, a rise in fertility coupled with funding cuts has led to more students, but fewer teachers in classrooms. The French Education Minister Edouard Geffray has met with student protesters multiple times in recent weeks, although an agreement is yet to be made.

CNN’s Eline Baudier Kim contributed reporting.

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周六，巴黎街头弥漫着警方发射的催泪瓦斯烟雾，反政府抗议活动蔓延至法国首都以外地区。

法国内政部长洛朗·努内兹表示，约有55万名抗议者走上法国各地街头，其中巴黎就有11万人。组织者估计实际参与人数还会更高。本周末，雷恩、里昂和马赛等地也爆发了抗议活动。

照片显示，有人爬上历史雕像，建筑物被点燃；据报道，里尔和马赛的抗议者在黄昏时分闯入政府大楼​​。

“财富和权力的积累已经完全失控了，”一位名叫宝琳的抗议者周六在巴黎告诉 CNN。

“我们来这里也是为了支持年轻人。虽然取得了一些胜利，但如果从更宏观的角度来看，情况并非朝着正确的方向发展，”这位36岁的男子补充道。

另一名示威者抱怨说，在总统埃马纽埃尔·马克龙的领导下，“民主减少”且“权力过于集中”。38岁的路易丝告诉CNN：“媒体被亿万富翁控制了。我们正在努力改变现状。”

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本周末的大规模抗议活动紧随上个月席卷法国部分地区的由学生领导的大规模集会之后，并由此引发了一场更广泛的、多方联合的运动，抗议学校设施破败、生活成本飙升以及民众对政府不作为的不满。这些集会已成为民众长期积压的、跨越几代人的愤怒的象征，他们认为政府的漠视和不作为，未能满足民众对社会和政治变革的诉求。

夜幕降临巴黎，抗议活动结束后，一群年轻人开始抢劫和纵火，这促使警方在狭窄的街道上使用催泪瓦斯和警棍进行镇压。

马克龙谴责“制造混乱者”干扰和平抗议活动，并在周六晚些时候警告说，“那些破坏、袭击（警察）警察局、企业，甚至抢劫市政厅的人，都将受到起诉和惩罚。”

“面对暴徒和前来袭击执法人员的人，我们绝不退缩，”巴黎警察局（负责监督巴黎警察部队、紧急服务部门和其他各种行政部门的监督机构）表示，并补充说，其工作人员“勇敢而专业地坚守阵地”。

截至目前，至少已有195人被拘留，与此同时，公众对当局强力镇压示威者的批评声浪也日益高涨。本周早些时候，警方在应对抗议活动中导致一名14岁男孩下颌骨骨折。另有一名警察在西北部阿朗松地区被拍到用锁喉的方式制服一名女孩，这种行为现已被法律禁止。

据CNN附属电视台BFMTV报道，周六在里昂西南约40英里（64公里）的圣艾蒂安市，一名抗议者在游行中失去了一只手。这是在当前这波学生抗议浪潮中，第二起示威者失去手的报道。

本月初，意大利东北部城市朗斯一名学生据称捡起一枚手榴弹后失去了一只手，此事促使警方暂时停用了一种眩晕手榴弹。这项禁令现已解除，但警方仍可使用其他几种手榴弹。

据BFMTV报道，当局表示，总体而言，“绝大多数人”周六都进行了和平示威。

杰弗里·范德哈瑟尔特/法新社/盖蒂图片社

极左翼政党“不屈法国”领导人让-吕克·梅朗雄在社交媒体X上发帖强调，周日的大多数示威者都以和平方式表达了诉求。“尽管新闻频道充斥着数十个城市的暴力画面，但一切都在和平进行，成千上万的人平静地参与其中。这是两个世界，两种现实。”

阿卜杜勒·萨布尔/路透社

周六，比利时、阿尔巴尼亚和意大利的青年活动人士也举行了声援抗议活动。

今年秋季早些时候，法国高中生组织了零星的抗议活动，要求减少班级规模、增加教师经费、投资建设能够抵御气候危机的基础设施，并停止警察对年轻人的暴力行为。

过去十五年间，生育率上升加上教育经费削减，导致学生人数增加，但教师人数却减少。法国教育部长爱德华·热弗雷近几周已多次与学生抗议者会面，但双方尚未达成协议。

CNN的Eline Baudier Kim对此报道亦有贡献。