About 400 arrested in France's cost-of-living protests
The Interior Ministry counted 550 000 marchers and organizers said 800 000; the minister denounced looting in several cities.
France saw nationwide protests on Saturday, Oct. 17, over rising fuel prices and the cost of living. The protests ended with about 400 arrests and looting in several cities, according to Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez, as reported by franceinfo.
By Nuñez's count, 550 000 people marched in 110 demonstrations, 110 000 of them in Paris. The organizers, including the CGT union and the student union Union Étudiante, put the figure at 800 000. The 250 000 gap points to a political dispute over how big the movement really was.
The minister said most of those arrested are adults and denounced "scenes of looting" in many cities. He blamed the unrest on groups of "casseurs" (rioters) who, in his account, acted at the instigation of the far left and numbered from hundreds to thousands depending on the city, and on "opportunistic criminals" who attacked and looted shops. That is his version: the tally does not say how many of those arrested belong to those groups.
French media report incidents in Paris, on the Champs-Élysées and at the Place de la République, and also in Marseille, Lyon, Lille, Limoges and Rouen. In some of those cities, town halls and university buildings were damaged or burned. There is still no official count of injuries or property damage.
The call to protest began on social media more than a month ago over fuel prices, then grew to cover the cost of groceries and rent and opposition to the draft 2027 budget. The CGT, student groups and high schools joined in. Figures from the original 2018 yellow vest movement, such as Maxime Nicolle and Jérôme Rodrigues, backed it, but the movement has no central leadership. CGT leader Sophie Binet said the union shares the demands, according to The Connexion.
Still pending are the official count of injuries and damage and the government's response. From Oct. 17 to 21, pilots and cabin crew are also on strike over pension rules.
