The French Interior Ministry reported that the nationwide protests held on Thursday, aimed at defending purchasing power and public services, ended with 448 arrests and 53 police officers injured. The number of participants was slightly lower than earlier estimates, with 575,000 to 600,000 people taking part. According to the ministry’s provisional report released at 18:00 local time, the Thursday demonstrations were the most attended of the autumn, drawing an estimated 1.6 million participants across the country. The ministry also recorded 86 incidents involving fires. The government described the marches as “generally normal,” but noted that in several cities—Rennes, Marseille, Nantes, Lyon, Bordeaux and Strasbourg—groups of risk were formed, each comprising several hundred radical and far‑left activists. These groups were prevented from taking action, yet they displayed significant violence against police and gendarmes, including the use of projectiles and pyrotechnic mortars. Notable incidents included the burning of a large cardboard figure of a riot police officer (CRS) in Strasbourg, bearing the inscription “CRS SS.” The figure was reportedly designed by students of the city’s Superior School of Art. The prefect of Strasbourg filed a complaint with the authorities at the request of the minister. In La Courneuve, a suburb of Paris, an individual confronted a group blocking a school centre and stabbed one of the people. The suspect was detained, and the victim was treated by emergency services without life-threatening injuries. Partial fires were also reported in educational facilities in Toulouse and Lille. In response to the events of 17 October—a day of extreme urban violence that saw the looting of at least 3,000 shops and the burning of the Limoges city hall—the authorities deployed 70,000 police officers on Thursday to prevent a repeat of that violence.
Article source: El Comercio | Image credit: El Comercio