France Protest Day: Students and Yellow Vests March Nationwide, 166 Arrested by Midday
France's weeks-long student protest movement merged on Saturday, October 17, with a nationwide mobilization over the cost of living, as students, trade unionists and Yellow Vest activists took to the streets in Paris, Marseille, Lyon and other cities. According to the interior ministry, by midday some 32,800 people had taken part in about 140 demonstrations across France and at least 166 people had been arrested, around 100 of them in Paris, many on suspicion of carrying weapons.
The main Paris march was set to proceed in the afternoon from Place de Clichy toward Place de la Nation, passing Place de la Republique, where police fired tear gas and used water cannon against groups who arrived early, some of whom hurled mortar fireworks and projectiles at officers. Organizers expected as many as 170,000 people to join official marches nationwide during the afternoon.
In Marseille, rubbish bins were set alight and the windows of a police station were smashed; in Lyon's Place Bellecour, masked protesters launched fireworks at police, who responded with tear gas.
The student movement began in mid-September at a high school in Creteil, a Paris suburb, over dilapidated buildings, overcrowded classrooms and teacher shortages, and was later joined by teachers, unions and university students. A viral social media video calling for an October 17 protest over the rising cost of living also drew in some Yellow Vest activists, remnants of the 2018 movement against a fuel tax rise.
Source: GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 资料图：巴黎共和国广场与共和国纪念碑，10月17日巴黎游行路线经过此地。Pierre-Selim Huard 摄，CC BY 4.0，Wikimedia Commons。
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