Arabic version: توقيف نحو ألف شخص بعد احتجاجات في أنحاء فرنسا
According to BBC News, nearly 1,000 people were arrested after hundreds of thousands joined another day of protests across France on Saturday. The interior ministry estimated 410,000 participants, while unions put the figure at about 800,000.
The demonstrations were largely peaceful during the day but were followed by clashes in several cities. Police used tear gas and water cannon in Paris, while protesters set up and burned barricades in Marseille. In Bordeaux, some people removed boards from a building to build a street barricade.
Authorities deployed about 70,000 police officers and imposed restrictions in several cities. The measures were intended to prevent a repeat of disorder last weekend, when officials said officers were outnumbered, businesses were looted and buildings were set on fire.
French Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez said several thousand radical activists had gathered at the rear of the Paris march, including about 500 people identified as rioters. He said two people were seriously injured, in Toulouse and Clermont-Ferrand, and that the arrest total would rise.
The protests concern the cost of living and poor school conditions. They come six months before France’s presidential elections, with leading contenders blaming President Emmanuel Macron and his ministers for the continuing unrest.
