France Protests Police fire tear gas as nationwide demonstrations resume

French police fired tear gas at protesters in Lyon on Saturday as authorities tightened security across major cities to prevent a repeat of the rioting that erupted a week earlier. The demonstrations came amid growing public anger over the rising cost of living.

An AFP journalist witnessed police in the southeastern city fire tear gas to disperse around 150 protesters near the city centre, where demonstrations had been banned. The protesters briefly attempted to block a road.

Authorities and business owners across France prepared for possible fresh unrest. In Paris, a clothing store near the Bastille neighbourhood removed merchandise from its shelves, while a nearby restaurant boarded up its windows but displayed signs saying it remained open. Many other retailers also covered their windows with wooden boards.

The Louvre and Musée d’Orsay museums were closed as security measures intensified.

Police prepared riot-control equipment in areas badly affected by clashes and looting the previous weekend. The Interior Ministry said 70,000 security personnel had been mobilised to address what it described as a high risk of violence.

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“We will not tolerate any unrest,” Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez said on Friday. He added that social media posts had called for violence and looting.

Tensions also rose as the far-right National Rally (RN), led by Marine Le Pen, held a weekend congress in the central city of Orléans. The gathering marked the start of her campaign for the presidential election, scheduled in six months to choose a successor to President Emmanuel Macron.

Thousands of demonstrators marched against Le Pen and Macron on Saturday, chanting anti-fascist slogans. The crowd shouted, “Macron resign. Le Pen in prison.”

The protests and security concerns have highlighted political tensions ahead of the presidential election. Opinion polls suggest Le Pen is well placed to compete for victory.

Last weekend, 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 retailers reported damage and stolen goods worth hundreds of millions of euros.

Macron blamed much of the violence on what he called “ultra-left” groups seeking to undermine the republic. Organisers of the renewed demonstrations accused the president and his government of ignoring public anger over rising prices and poor conditions in schools.

Inflation in France and other countries has increased amid the Middle East war, which began in February following military action by the United States and Israel.

Demonstrations have also taken place in Italy, Belgium, Spain and Portugal over a range of issues, including inflation and education. Italy has deployed 500 troops to help contain street violence in Milan.

Paris remained unusually quiet on Saturday, with many shops boarded up and major retailers notifying customers that they would close for the day.

Police ordered a union-organised march to move from Bastille, in the east-central part of the capital, to Porte d’Italie on Paris’s southern outskirts. Unions said they would reluctantly accept the change, while the Yellow Vest movement indicated it would not comply with the order.

The Yellow Vest movement, a loosely organised protest group, staged disruptive demonstrations against Macron eight years ago.

Macron and his government have sought to distinguish peaceful protest from the looting, arson and vandalism that accompanied demonstrations last Saturday. Officials said courts had already sentenced 217 people, half of them first-time offenders, to prison over the unrest.

The president has said authorities would accept only union-led demonstrations and would act against other gatherings they considered illegitimate.

In Marseille, authorities initially banned all protests but announced on Friday that a union-organised march would be permitted as an exception.

The restrictions, including outright bans in some cities, have drawn criticism from human rights groups.

Amnesty International condemned what it described as a shift towards authoritarian practices, warning that the measures threatened the right to peaceful assembly.

“Police have a responsibility both to ensure that protests can take place peacefully and safely and to protect the public from violent disorder,” said Eva Cosse, a senior Europe researcher at Human Rights Watch.