France, more protests. Clashes in Paris, riots in Lyon and Marseille: many arrested

In the morning the first interventions by the police were immediately recorded at the beginning of the day of mobilization. In Lyon, riot police used tear gas to disperse around a hundred demonstrators along the banks of the Rhone. In Rennes, "a group of demonstrators attempted to block avenue Charles et Raymonde Tillon by erecting burning barricades," the prefecture reported on X. By mid-morning, two unauthorized marches in Paris were dispersed. An initial gathering of around a hundred people formed near the Gare du Nord and then moved towards rue du Faubourg Saint-Denis. A second group, made up of about a hundred high school students, began on rue de Rennes.

A municipal police station and, according to testimonies spread on social media, an SFR telephone shop were targeted in Marseille during the mobilization against the high cost of living. The attack on the police headquarters on Canebiere was confirmed by the prefecture to Bfmtv: "Windows were broken and smoke bombs were thrown inside. An attempted fire was foiled. No injuries were reported." Some protesters briefly entered the lobby of City Hall after breaking down the door. In Brittany, in Rennes, demonstrators have been erecting roadblocks since 8 in the morning, while some burning barricades have hindered traffic on the ring road. In Lyon, the police dispersed several groups of demonstrators who attempted to block traffic. Blockages were also reported in Nancy.

There were also violent clashes in Paris on the sidelines of the march between Place de la République and Place de Clichy. The officers once again used tear gas to respond to the throwing of objects and firecrackers by several hundred demonstrators, mostly hooded and dressed in black. A little later, in the same area, a car was set on fire amid the applause of the crowd. From Montmartre, in the northern part of the city, he sees a thick column of smoke rising into the sky from the center of the city.

The offices of the CNews broadcaster were blocked this morning by a group of demonstrators, as part of the protests: this is what Le Figaro writes, adding that several editorial offices, considered "channels of enemy propaganda" had been explicitly mentioned in the demonstrators' discussion groups on 17 October. During the operation conducted against the headquarters of CNews, considered the "French Fox News" owned by the ultra-conservative tycoon Bolloré, "objects were thrown against the windows, causing damage", continues the newspaper, specifying that around a hundred people took part in the raid.

The number of people arrested in the protests has risen to 272, the French Interior Ministry said, Le Figaro reported. The ministry said the arrests arose from incidents of violence involving hooded people in Paris, Marseille (in the south), Rennes (in the north-west), Toulouse (in the south-west) and Angers (in the west). “Such actions include attempted looting, clashes with law enforcement, fires and attacks on places of power and media outlets,” the ministry said, blaming the unrest on what it called “the far left.”

Authorities expect around 40,000 protesters in Paris today and another 150,000 in the rest of the country, according to a police source. The protest takes place in a climate of strong social tensions, fueled by the increase in fuel prices and the loss of purchasing power. In the background, the memory of the yellow vests of 2018-2019, born against the increase in fuel taxes and marked by violent clashes, including on the Champs-Elysees.

Minister Nuñez specified that stun grenades, whose use in high school protests was suspended after serious incidents, can be used in the event of "extremely serious urban violence". Speaking live on France 2, the Interior Minister said he fears above all that the "final stages" of the protest could degenerate into devastation and violence "due to the far left", in particular, in cities such as "Bordeaux and Toulouse".

In the capital, demonstrations are prohibited near sensitive institutional places, including the Elysée, Matignon and the National Assembly, and on the Champs-Elysees. The prefect of Paris, Patrice Faure, rejected the itinerary of the Paris demonstration with arrival in Place de la Concorde, invoking risks of violence and disruption of public order. Faure proposed an alternative route, between Place de la Bastille and Place de Clichy, which however the organizers did not like. "We are refused marches that head towards places of power and this is not normal", declared Coppélia Moreau, of the Ile-de-France l'Interface committee, at the end of a meeting in the prefecture with local authorities.

Since the beginning of September, calls for a return to the streets on October 17 had begun to circulate on social media. Eight years later, symbolic figures of the yellow vests during the 2018-2109 protests such as Jérôme Rodrigues, Maxime Nicolle, Eric Drouet and Priscillia Ludosky, expressed their support for the mobilization. Jerome Rodrigues, a figure of the yellow vests who lost an eye during a demonstration in January 2019, called for the protest to continue beyond this day: "We will not solve the problem in one day, we must make ourselves heard for much longer."

"It is not just a movement of 'yellow vests', nor just a movement of students and high school students, it is the entire people who are rising up, and that is why the powers that be are afraid", declares Benjamin Ball, curator of the website 17octobregiletjaune.net, already promoter of past protests such as “Bloquons tout” and the climate march of 26 September. In an internal circular revealed by BFMTV, the police indicate that today's mobilization is fueled by "an effervescence on the social networks, which generated it, but also on the media, which are dedicating increasing space to this issue". According to the authorities, it is "a 'heterogeneous' movement that aims at a 'convergence of struggles' and which brings together, among others, exponents of the far left, 'neo-gilets jaunes', supporters of the Palestinian cause, left-wing parties, high school students, students and even 'adherents of the alternative techno scene'".

The presidential vote in April sees the candidate of the Rassemblement National (RN), Marine Le Pen, as the big favorite in the polls. The president of the RN, Jordan Bardella, said he was "concerned" about possible unrest, accusing the mobilization of offering, "under the cover of legitimate demands", an opportunity for the "France of chaos" to rally behind Melenchon. The leader of La France Insoumise focuses on mobilization and hailed "an important moment" in which "the acute exasperation of many sectors of society" will be expressed, in particular university and high school students, while denouncing "disproportionate and permanent police violence and repression". Several deputies of the radical left, the leader of the Ecologists Marine Tondelier and the communist secretary Fabien Roussel will be present in the marches.