France protests for a fourth weekend, with clashes in Paris and Lyon
Fewer people marched than in previous weeks, about 146,000 by the government's count, but police used tear gas in both cities.
Last Sunday Hindsight reported that the protests over the cost of living that began in France's schools had spread across Europe. On Saturday France marched for a fourth weekend in a row.
The Interior Ministry counted about 146,000 people across the country, 46,000 of them in Paris; the unions said 250,000, with 75,000 in the capital. Both figures were lower than in previous weeks, and well below the 575,000 who joined Thursday's union-organised strike day.1 Unions and student groups marched, and the Yellow Vests movement kept its call for a separate rally in central Paris, which the authorities had banned.2
There were clashes despite the smaller crowds. In Paris police charged protesters and used tear gas; they said 200 people attacked officers who were arresting a man who had set fire to a rubbish bin. In Lyon police fired tear gas to clear several hundred people blocking a road in the city centre at a gathering that had not been authorised. The interior minister, Laurent Nuñez, had warned that the authorities would be "ready and waiting" for anyone who rioted or looted.1