France sees another weekend of mass protests, with nearly 1,000 detained

Aris Messinis/AFP/Getty Images

Hundreds of thousands of people protested across France Saturday, according to the country’s Interior Ministry, in what were largely peaceful demonstrations.

Around 110,000 of the over 410,000 protesters were in Paris, the ministry said, roughly the same number who demonstrated in the capital last weekend.

Some protesters have been calling for greater investment in the country’s education system, more opportunities for its young workers and solutions to surging living costs.

Nearly 1,000 people were detained amid demonstrations across France Saturday, according to French Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez.

This compares with 385 detentions amid the protests last week, he said.

“In Paris, we had a major demonstration that took place peacefully, like most protest marches across the entire country,” Nuñez told reporters.

Nuñez said the police had restricted protesters’ movements: “They were prevented from staging unauthorized roving protests or heading toward city centers.”

“In certain cities there was some damage or looting of businesses, in very limited numbers,” Nuñez added, but far less than during protests a week ago.

Nuñez said there had been “no targeted attacks” on public buildings such as town halls and police stations, as seen last weekend.

However, security forces faced an “extremely high level of violence” Nuñez added, “with projectiles constantly being thrown and mortar fireworks fired.” He said security forces would remain deployed until very late Saturday evening local time to guard against looting.

Some 70,000 police officers had been mobilized across the country Saturday, the Interior Ministry said, as French authorities launched an enormous security operation for the second round of protests.

Specialist SWAT units, helicopters, armored vehicles, police dogs and water cannons were at the ready as part of the operation, after more than half a million people took to the streets last Saturday.

After a peaceful march through Paris, a crowd of several thousand protesters confronted police, who used tear gas and a water cannon to block them, according to a CNN team at the scene.

The clashes broke out at the Porte de Vincennes, the endpoint of the march, which drew an estimated 110,000 people.

In France’s second city, Marseille, protesters launched mortar fireworks toward police during running street skirmishes, and there were reports of looting in various parts of the city, including a jewelry store with smashed windows and a supermarket being pillaged, CNN’s French affiliate BFMTV reported.

Images from Bordeaux, on France’s Atlantic coast, showed tear gas being used against protesters in the famous Place de la Bourse. Videos showed some masked protesters hurling objects at police as the tear gas drifted across the square.

In Nice, dozens of far-right activists attacked people protesting peacefully Saturday, BFMTV reported.

The leader of far-left party La France Insoumise, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, warned that nationwide industrial action will take place on November 5 if French President Emmanuel Macron does not respond to protesters’ demands.

“A general strike, called by the CGT, looms over the government for the 5th of November,” he told BFMTV, while speaking from the front line of Saturday’s demonstration in Paris.

As scores of protesters took to the streets in cities across France on Saturday, anti-government demonstrations were also taking place in a number of other European countries.

In the Italian cities of Naples, Rome and Milan, stores boarded up their windows ahead of planned protests after looting in earlier demonstrations.

Protesters in the Albanian capital Tirana set fires to dumpsters and threw stones and tear gas canisters.

And in Brussels, students held up placards and barricaded streets. Police deployed a water cannon, according to Belgium’s public broadcaster VRT .

CNN’s Catherine Nicholls, Lisa Courbebaisse, Joseph Ataman, Tim Lister, Elina Baudier Kim and Charlotte Reck contributed reporting.

Aris Messinis/AFP/Getty Images

据法国内政部称，周六法国各地数十万人举行抗议活动，这些示威活动大多是和平的。

该部表示，在超过 41 万名抗议者中，约有 11 万人在巴黎，与上周末在首都示威的人数大致相同。

一些抗议者呼吁加大对国家教育系统的投资，为年轻劳动者提供更多机会，并寻求解决生活成本飙升问题的方案。

据法国内政部长洛朗·努涅斯称，周六法国各地爆发的示威活动中，近1000人被拘留。

他说，相比之下，上周抗议活动中共有 385 人被拘留。

努涅斯告诉记者：“在巴黎，我们举行了一场大规模的和平示威游行，就像全国各地的大多数抗议游行一样。”

努涅斯表示，警方限制了抗议者的行动：“他们被阻止进行未经授权的流动抗议或前往市中心。”

努涅斯补充说：“在某些城市，一些商店遭到破坏或抢劫，但数量非常有限”，远少于一周前的抗议活动。

努涅斯表示，没有像上周末那样，针对市政厅和警察局等公共建筑的“有针对性的袭击”。

努涅斯补充说，安全部队面临着“极其严重的暴力事件”，“不断有投掷物和迫击炮弹发射”。他表示，为防止抢劫，安全部队将一直部署到当地时间周六深夜。

法国内政部表示，周六全国约有7万名警察被动员起来，法国当局针对第二轮抗议活动启动了大规模安全行动。

上周六，超过 50 万人走上街头，作为行动的一部分，专业的特警队、直升机、装甲车、警犬和水炮随时待命。

据 CNN 现场报道，在巴黎举行了一场和平游行后，数千名抗议者与警方发生冲突，警方使用了催泪瓦斯和高压水炮来阻止他们。

冲突爆发于游行终点文森门，据估计有 11 万人参加了此次游行。

据 CNN 法国附属电视台 BFMTV 报道，在法国第二大城市马赛，抗议者在街头冲突中向警察发射迫击炮烟花，该市多个地区发生抢劫事件，包括一家珠宝店的窗户被砸碎，一家超市遭到洗劫。

来自法国大西洋沿岸城市波尔多的画面显示，警方在著名的交易所广场对示威者使用了催泪瓦斯。视频显示，一些蒙面示威者在催泪瓦斯弥漫广场时向警察投掷物品。

据BFMTV报道，周六在尼斯，数十名极右翼分子袭击了和平抗议的人们。

极左翼政党“不屈法国”领导人让-吕克·梅朗雄警告说，如果法国总统埃马纽埃尔·马克龙不回应抗议者的诉求，全国范围内的罢工将于11月5日举行。

“由法国总工会（CGT）号召的全国性罢工将于11月5日举行，政府岌岌可危，”他在周六巴黎示威游行的前线接受BFMTV采访时说道。

周六，法国各地城市爆发大规模抗议活动，与此同时，其他一些欧洲国家也出现了反政府示威活动。

在意大利那不勒斯、罗马和米兰等城市，由于早前的示威活动中发生了抢劫事件，商店在计划举行的抗议活动前用木板封住了窗户。

在阿尔巴尼亚首都地拉那，抗议者纵火焚烧垃圾箱，并投掷石块和催泪瓦斯罐。

在布鲁塞尔，学生们举着标语牌，设置路障。据比利时公共广播公司VRT报道，警方部署了水炮车。

CNN 的 Catherine Nicholls、Lisa Courbebaisse、Joseph Ataman、Tim Lister、Elina Baudier Kim 和 Charlotte Reck 对此报道亦有贡献。