Macron's Union-Only Decree Fails to Stop Arrests as French Marches Draw Thousands

Nearly 1,000 people were arrested across France on Saturday.

The interior ministry estimated that 410,000 people took part in demonstrations, while unions counted around 800,000. About 70,000 police officers were deployed. Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez said late in the day that the arrest figure would rise. He also reported two serious injuries, one in Toulouse and one in Clermont-Ferrand.

President Emmanuel Macron issued a decree earlier in the week limiting marches to those organized by recognized trade unions. In Paris, police used batons against masked youths who broke windows at a car dealership, and some protesters threw projectiles. Nuñez said several thousand radical activists gathered at the rear of the march, including around 500 individuals identified as rioters. In Marseille, rubbish bins burned and metal sheets blocked streets. Police fired tear gas in Lyon to clear a crowd from an area the local prefecture had declared off-limits.

The day's events followed last weekend's disorder, which saw hundreds of businesses looted and buildings torched. Authorities deployed police and imposed restrictions in several cities to keep the marches from repeating that outcome. About 550,000 people demonstrated last weekend against rising fuel prices and the cost of living. More than 2,500 arrests followed. Over 2,000 shops and businesses were directly affected, with damage estimated by the Chambers of Commerce and Industry at hundreds of millions of euros. About 1,000 police officers were injured, and one demonstrator's hand was reportedly blown off by a crowd-control grenade.

In Paris, a march proceeded from Porte d'Italie toward Porte de Vincennes. Trouble began at its conclusion. The police operation included an elite unit normally assigned to organised crime and counter-terrorism. In Lyon, one protester said there were around 150 people, mostly secondary school and university students, and that visibility in the street was near zero. A 26-year-old Paris protester who gave her name as Zelie said people were suffering a lot. Two masked teenagers said their generation felt abandoned by the government. One of them said looting was really not good but blamed poverty and the violence of the police. Separately, some 13,000 people rallied in Orléans against the hard-right National Rally party.

Unrest extended beyond France. Riot police fired tear gas at thousands of anti-government demonstrators in Tirana, Albania, and clashes were reported in Brussels. In Milan, hundreds of soldiers and police prevented protesters from gathering. Some people have been jailed for vandalism, arson, and looting following fast-track court hearings in recent days. With presidential elections six months away, leading contenders have blamed Macron and his ministers.