Police fired tear gas at crowds in Paris and Lyon on Saturday as hundreds of thousands of mostly young people marched across France, the third consecutive weekend of demonstrations over living costs and the state of the country’s schools.
Authorities put turnout at 320,000 nationwide, including 70,000 in the capital. A coalition of student and youth organizations and unions said nearly half a million people took part, with 200,000 in Paris alone.
The Paris march began peacefully but turned violent near its planned endpoint. Protesters set fire to bins and street furniture, and smoke rose over the city.
AFP reported that dozens of masked people in black pried up paving stones with hammers and threw them at police on the city’s outskirts. At least one incendiary device was thrown at officers, who responded with tear gas and baton charges.
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France’s Interior Ministry said at least 290 people were arrested nationwide. Some 70,000 police and gendarmes were deployed, and Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez had warned of a “very high risk” of disorder, particularly after dark on Halloween.
After a last-minute court battle, the main Paris march was moved to the city’s eastern edge. Unaccompanied minors faced a 9 p.m. curfew near the Champs-Élysées.
Al Jazeera’s Natacha Butler, reporting from Paris, said most demonstrators condemned the violence but felt the government had stopped listening to them. Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu has met student unions several times this week and is examining measures to ease living costs, the government said.
The movement began last month, when high school students protested against neglected school buildings, teacher shortages and a university admissions system they see as unfair to disadvantaged pupils. Labor unions have since joined.
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On October 17, protests drew more than 500,000 people, according to government estimates, and shops were looted in Paris in some of the worst rioting France has seen in years.
The protests have spread beyond France. In Germany, a youth alliance calling itself “Gen Z regelt” said 120,000 people rallied in cities nationwide against rising living costs, budget cuts and higher defense spending.
Police used water cannon in Frankfurt, Cologne and Hamburg. Frankfurt police reported “violent riots,” including looting, smashed windows and Molotov cocktails thrown at emergency services, and at least one officer was injured. In Hamburg, organizers ended the protest early after police were pelted with stones and fireworks.
In Spain, Catalan police raised their alert to the highest level after rioting in Barcelona on Oct. 24 led to about 130 arrests, mostly of minors. Italian police were also on alert after clashes in Milan, Turin and Bologna.
