Protestsupdated 58m ago3 min read
Archive photo · 28 December 2017French Riot Police Fire Tear Gas, Charge Protesters in Lyon During Macron Strike Rallies
“largely peaceful nationwide demonstrations and a one-day strike”
“French riot police fired tear gas and charged a group of protesters”
Photo: Chabe01, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Cropped for layout
This article is an automated aggregation of coverage from news outlets. Our editorials offer in-depth analysis curated by the NewsCord team.
Riot police in Lyon fired tear gas and charged a group of protesters. About 270,000 protesters across nearly 200 demonstrations nationwide amid a public-sector strike.
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Clashes in Lyon
French riot police fired tear gas and charged a group of protesters in Lyon during nationwide demonstrations and a one-day strike by some public sector workers, Reuters said, as the protests challenged President Emmanuel Macron. The Interior Ministry said 270,000 people had participated in protests around the country so far, excluding Paris, where the main demonstration started in the afternoon, and Glucksmann told reporters at the start of the Paris march, "This country needs justice." Riot police in Lyon detained protesters during a demonstration for higher wages and in support of the high school protest movement, and the Interior Ministry said the violence there had been contained although tensions remained high.
In Paris, the mood was festive at the start, but about two hours in some people at the front of the march clashed with police, who fired tear gas, while the Eiffel Tower was shut by the one-day strike. Education Minister Edouard Geffray said on X, "This criminal behavior is an absolute scandal," after fireworks caused a fire at a high school near Toulouse that forced pupils and staff to evacuate.
Union leaders speak
Sophie Binet, head of the CGT trade union, told reporters, "The government tried to block the demonstrations. The demonstrations are bigger than ever," as she estimated that some 250,000 people were demonstrating across France before the Paris march.
Mehdi Dumontroty, a 45-year-old firefighter joining the protest in Paris, said, "Our pay has not kept up with inflation," and he added, "What happened this summer proves that we were right when we said we needed more resources to deal with the crisis that we faced," referring to wildfires caused earlier this year by intense heat waves.
The Interior Ministry said people throwing fireworks had caused a fire at a high school near the city of Toulouse in the southwest on Thursday morning, forcing pupils and staff to evacuate the building while firefighters doused the flames.
Riot police fired tear gas and charged a group of demonstrators in Lyon, and scuffles broke out in Nantes as protesters and police clashed.
France deployed 70,000 police officers Thursday as tens of thousands of people took to the streets after left-wing groups called for a mobilization, and CGT head Sophie Binet said, "We need to turn up in big numbers on the streets today."
What is at stake
The protests and strike came only five months before a presidential election that could pit far-right candidate Marine Le Pen against hard-left rival Jean-Luc Melenchon in a second-round runoff, Reuters said, while Macron, serving his second term, cannot run again. 70,000 police officers were deployed across France on Thursday morning as street demonstrations began in cities including Marseille, Grenoble and Lyon, and the government said 81 high schools were affected while students’ unions put the number at 1,000. The French Human Rights League warned of an "authoritarian shift" to stifle "any dissenting voice" as authorities issued restrictions on demonstrating in city centres, and Sophie Binet said, "We’re living at a very serious time with a very dangerous authoritarian drift from the government".
The French Interior Ministry told the public at 1 p.m. local time that police were "keeping the situation under control, but it remains tense," and the statement described "Several violent acts" as part of the high school student movement. The strikes linked to the demonstrations disrupted some public transportation and other services, and just under 10 percent of public servants across the country were on strike, according to the Ministry of Public Action and Accounts.