France, a new Saturday of protests: 70 thousand police officers deployed

A new Saturday full of social tensions that France is called to deal with today. In Paris, around 46 thousand demonstrators took to the streets for young people and against the high cost of living: this is what the Police Prefecture claims. Compared to Thursday when the authorities reported 65 thousand demonstrators, this is a decreasing number. In Paris, the procession marched peacefully from the Place de la République to the Place de la Nation.

At 2pm, sources close to the Interior Minister reported that, on the occasion of the fourth consecutive Saturday of mobilisation, which began on 17 October, 7,000 people had taken to the streets in 68 demonstrations across France. A number to which must be added the Paris procession that left subsequently.

The new demonstration, called by the unions, also sees students and yellow vests in the streets. The unions are calling in particular for an increase in the minimum wage, a review of tax policies, more resources for schools and healthcare and guarantees on employment. Precisely the presence of the yellow vests represents a further element of attention for the authorities: the movement, protagonist of the large French protests between 2018 and 2020, returns to intersect its mobilization with that of workers and students.

Meanwhile, the management of Agence France-Presse (Afp), the French press agency among the most important information bodies in the world, has denounced "the violence committed by the police against their journalists during the demonstrations" linked to the student movement and the high cost of living in France. According to the AFP, several reporters were hit by truncheons or, in one case, by a projectile fired from a projectile defense launcher (LBD) supplied by the French police. An agency photographer who was wearing a visible band with the words 'Presse' was injured during a police charge against the tortoise of a march of demonstrators. The photographer received five truncheon blows, three of which on the helmet and two on the lower part of one leg, resulting in a fracture of the fibula. On 17 October, in Lille, in the north of the country, a journalist was wounded in the thigh by an Lbd bullet, even though he was also wearing a press band. On the same day, in Paris, a video journalist was deliberately targeted with a water cannon, together with colleagues from other media, who were also clearly identifiable, and then suffered a truncheon the following day.