Police clash with masked rioters after largely peaceful protests across France – The Guardian

Demonstrations also taking place in Germany, where officers fire teargas to disperse crowds as evening falls
Clashes erupted in Paris, Marseille and other cities on Saturday after tens of thousands of demonstrators, some in Halloween fancy dress, marched across France in a third wave of protests over the cost of living and deteriorating public services.
The interior minister, Laurent Nuñez, said about 150 planned demonstrations around the country had passed off peacefully, but police had encountered an “extraordinary” level of violence from some rioters as the rallies ended.
One riot police officer had been hit by a molotov cocktail in Paris, he said, describing the incident as an “attempted murder”. “We are fully prepared for those looking for confrontation tonight,” he added.
About 320,000 people – down from an estimated 410,000 last weekend – took part in rallies around the country, the interior ministry said, including 70,000 in Paris who marched along boulevards on the south-eastern outskirts, avoiding the city centre.
As evening approached and the largely peaceful demonstrations came to an end, police in several cities fired teargas and stun grenades to disperse crowds joined – as on the previous Saturday – by groups of masked rioters.
The interior ministry said late Saturday that police had arrested 565 people across the country. Four police officers and one gendarme were injured in Paris.
Nuñez said earlier this week that 70,000 police and gendarmes, including elite units, would be deployed in an effort to quell violence on the protests’ sidelines, warning that Saturday looked like “a very high risk” day.
The Paris protesters set off peacefully from the Porte de Bagnolet near the ring road, holding placards with slogans including “No need for teargas to make our future look bleak” and “Disguised as an angry citizen for Halloween”, as a helicopter flew overhead
On and around its destination, the Porte de Charenton, dozens of masked people dressed in black used hammers to pry up paving stones and hurl them at police, and at least one incendiary device was thrown at security forces.
Police responded with teargas and baton charges. “A hardcore of several hundred rioters” had attacked police with projectiles, the Paris police prefecture said. Officers had “manoeuvred to restore public order”, it added.
In Lyon protesters threw projectiles at police, prompting officers to fire teargas, and in Toulouse police used water cannon against an unauthorised protest that drew several thousand people, mostly young demonstrators.
The marches brought together school students, who have been calling for better conditions for a month, trade unions and gilets jaune (yellow vests) protesters united in anger at the cost of living, widening inequalities and Emmanuel Macron’s ⁠government.
“The French economy is doing badly no matter what happens, because today we’re being run by a group of incompetents who juggle billions while families are struggling with a few cents,” said one protester on the Paris march, Jérôme Rodrigues. “That’s why we’re here, to keep shouting our demands louder and ‌louder.”
A protester in Nantes, Camille Guérin, said: “We say no to the cost of living, no to the far right, yes to high school students’ demands, yes to giving citizens a voice.”
Saturday’s rallies came two weeks after widespread street violence and looting rocked numerous French cities during a first wave of mass protest on 17 October that became one of the worst days of civil unrest in the country’s recent history.
Student protesters vowed to stage new high school and university blockades on Tuesday and Thursday. “Then we will join the 5 November demonstration called by workers and trade unions,” said Sabrine Kharbach of the Union Étudiante, a student organisation.
Protests also took place elsewhere in Europe. In Germany, police fired water cannon to disperse protesters who hurled firework and other projectiles at the end of youth-led protests organised by a group called “Gen Z regelt!” (Gen Z will sort this).
Thousands of police were deployed across the country, with tensions rising as evening fell after mostly peaceful demonstrations for “for education, health, the climate and an affordable life” in dozens of cities.
In Frankfurt, Germany’s financial hub, at least two stores were looted as protests turned violent, with several more damaged and police ⁠trying to gain control of the situation, according to a Reuters witness. A march was also temporarily halted in the city after protesters set off fireworks.
In the western city of Cologne, police fired water cannon to disperse a crowd after saying protesters had targeted officers with fireworks.
In Berlin, protesters hurled bottles and eggs while protesters set barricades ablaze in Hamburg, and police were using pepper spray on demonstrators in some places, the newspaper Bild reported.
Fresh anti-government demonstrations also occurred in Albania’s capital, with protesters renewing their demands that prime minister Edi Rama resign.
Saturday’s demonstration began peacefully under rain outside the education ministry in Tirana, before dozens of masked youths started throwing paving stones and firebombs at police and set fire to rubbish bins.
Police were also on alert in Barcelona after an anonymous TikTok network called Blocus urged new gatherings, and in Italy after recent clashes with protesters in Milan, Turin and Bologna.

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