French police fired tear gas at demonstrators on Saturday as authorities tightened security across major cities to prevent a repeat of last weekend’s violent unrest, amid renewed nationwide protests over soaring living costs.
In Lyon, southeastern France, officers dispersed about 150 protesters near the city centre after some briefly attempted to block a road in an area where demonstrations had been prohibited. The confrontation highlighted growing tensions as police moved swiftly to break up gatherings before they could escalate.
Across the country, authorities and business owners braced for fresh violence, with shops boarded up, merchandise removed from shelves and major attractions shutting their doors ahead of the demonstrations.
In Paris, several retailers protected their storefronts with wooden panels, while a clothing shop cleared its shelves and a nearby restaurant boarded up its premises despite insisting it remained open. The Louvre and Musée d’Orsay museums were also closed as a precaution.
Police in the capital said officers had seized various prohibited items by midday but maintained that the situation remained calm.
Political tensions added to the unrest, as Marine Le Pen’s National Rally party gathered in Orléans to launch its campaign ahead of elections in six months to choose President Emmanuel Macron’s successor.
Thousands of demonstrators also took to the streets on Saturday, denouncing both Le Pen and Macron with anti-fascist chants and calls for political accountability. Police estimated the crowd at 11,000, while organisers put the turnout at 26,000.
The demonstrations underscored mounting political and economic discontent ahead of the vote, with opinion polls suggesting Le Pen is well positioned to emerge victorious.
The latest protests follow a violent wave of unrest last weekend, when groups on the fringes of nationwide demonstrations clashed with police, vandalised public buildings and looted hundreds of shops.
Authorities arrested about 2,700 people, while the retail sector reported losses amounting to hundreds of millions of euros from property damage and stolen goods.
Macron blamed what he described as ultra-left groups for the worst of the violence, accusing them of seeking to undermine the republic.
However, organisers of the renewed demonstrations accused the president and his government of failing to address widespread public frustration over rising living costs and deteriorating conditions in schools.
Inflation has intensified in France and other countries following the outbreak of war in the Middle East in February, after the United States and Israel launched attacks on Iran.
The discontent extends beyond France, with protests also reported in Italy, Belgium, Spain and Portugal over various grievances, including inflation and education. In Italy, authorities deployed 500 troops to Milan following street violence.
Meanwhile, Paris presented an unusually subdued scene on Saturday, as barricaded shopfronts and precautionary closures reflected fears of another outbreak of disorder. Some major retailers had already notified customers that their outlets would remain shut for the day.
In a last-minute move, Paris police also ordered a union-organised march to be relocated from the central-eastern Bastille area to Porte d’Italie, farther east on the capital’s southern edge, as authorities sought to keep demonstrators away from sensitive locations and minimise the risk of renewed clashes.
