Paris Protests: 135 Arrests as Thousands March Over Living Costs
Authorities rerouted the march at short notice, and it set off from Porte d’Italie. Protesters were scheduled to move along the city’s outer boulevards toward Porte de Vincennes.
Student and high school unions are pushing for more permanent teaching posts, extra university places, better support for students with disabilities and a national program to renovate school buildings. Union representatives also want Parcoursup, France’s university admissions platform, scrapped, and are demanding concrete action on the education system’s problems.
Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said 35,000 people had joined demonstrations across the country by 1 pm (1100GMT), down from 60,000 at the same point a week earlier. He reported 135 arrests and said no major incidents had occurred so far.
Nunez said security had been substantially tightened, with extensive checks in major cities and on roads. Officers carried out more than 1,000 checks in the Paris region, he said, seizing fireworks, lead pellets and airsoft weapons.
Shopkeepers across Paris boarded up their storefronts in advance, wary after last weekend’s violence, looting and property damage. Most shops on the Champs-Elysees were heavily barricaded, though a few stayed open. The area was calm, and the largely deserted avenue was quiet apart from the occasional police siren.
Paris City Hall also rolled out preventive measures. It removed street furniture and other objects that could be used to damage property, deployed municipal police and mobilized more than 1,000 sanitation workers to clean streets and repair damaged public spaces.
Saturday’s mobilization followed a week of unrest and damage in several French cities. Authorities restricted rallies in some locations and stepped up security deployments ahead of the protests.
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