French police use tear gas at protests in five cities

Protests have begun across France over the rising cost of living and cuts to public services, as authorities deploy 70,000 police officers and gendarmes following unrest and looting the previous weekend. The Yellow Vests have called for another protest day on 31 October.

In Lyon, police used tear gas to disperse about 150 demonstrators near the city centre, where protests were banned. In Paris, officers seized what they described as “prohibited objects”, while saying the situation was calm. The Louvre and Musée d’Orsay were closed on Saturday.

The Yellow Vests announced their call after organisers changed the route of a trade union march in Paris at the last minute. The march can no longer travel between Bastille and Nation squares and must instead follow an alternative route on the city’s south-eastern edge. The group says it will protest next Saturday “for the right to demonstrate and all our freedoms”.

Authorities have imposed extra security measures after large riots and looting at several locations last Saturday. Amnesty International has criticised the bans on some demonstrations.

In Marseille, where looting took place last weekend, armoured vehicles and a water cannon were on standby. Local authorities banned demonstrations there but allowed a trade union-organised march, the only authorised protest in the Bouches-du-Rhône department.

Update

French police used tear gas in several cities on Saturday as demonstrations took place across the country, a week after protests in some areas ended in serious disorder. In Lyon, Lille, Toulouse, Nantes and Nice, officers deployed tear gas; police also used a water cannon in Nantes and Nice, according to Le Parisien, cited by the French news report.

The government deployed a large police force ahead of the demonstrations. Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez said he would tolerate “no expression of violence or unrest”.

In Paris, organisers moved a large march to a new starting point outside the city centre at the last minute. Although demonstrators were unhappy with the change, a large crowd gathered at the replacement location. The report said the turnout was not yet known.

The front of the march had reached its destination at Porte de Vincennes, with no major incidents reported there at the time of publication.