In France, the yellow vest movement, supported by different segments of society, especially high school students, farmers and climate activists, is protesting against the high cost of living at hundreds of different points.
According to local media reports, the yellow vest movement, which started in 2018 and took to the streets every year against the high cost of living, was also supported by high school students who have been protesting for a month to improve educational conditions, farmers protesting fuel prices and climate activists.
The French Ministry of Internal Affairs announced that protests will be held at 500 different points across the country.
On the other hand, the Paris Police Department banned protests at important points in the capital such as the Elysee Palace, the Prime Ministry building and the Champs-Elysees.
Despite the ban, shop owners on the famous Champs-Elysees Avenue blocked their shop windows with billboards and security forces were deployed along the street.
The march from Republic Square to Clichy Square in Paris started at 14.00 local time.
In addition to the capital Paris, protests continue in the cities of Lyon, Marseille, Rennes and Lille.
POLICE INTERVENTION IN PROTESTS
A fight broke out between the police and the protesters in the Republic Square, where activists gathered in the capital Paris. There were moments on social media where activists threw molotov cocktails and stones at the police.
Activists who went to the Republic Monument shouted slogans and waved the flags of France and Palestine. According to police sources, more than 100 people have been detained since the morning during the protests, in which garbage bins and bus stops were set on fire. The facades of different shops, including banks and insurance branches, on the route between Republic and Clichy squares, where the big march was held in Paris, were damaged. While there were disruptions in metro transportation, some roads were closed to traffic.
While protests continued throughout the day at different points in Paris, a group of demonstrators barricaded themselves with iron barriers on Champs-Elysees Avenue, despite the ban on demonstrations at this point. The police destroyed the barricades in question. A group of dozens of demonstrators in the capital was blocked by law enforcement officers while trying to approach the Elysee Palace. In the city of Limoges, a fire broke out in the historical town hall. Towards the end of the protest in the city, a masked group broke the windows of the building in question. The group entered and set the town hall on fire.
THE STREETS WERE SET ON FIRE
While there were incidents of violence during the protests in Marseille, reinforcement riot police teams were dispatched to the area after the demonstrators entered the Marseille Municipality building. During the demonstrations in Lyon, the police intervened with the protesters with pepper gas. The branch of a famous brand in the city was looted and the tourism office was set on fire. Police used pepper gas against people wearing black clothes and masks who tried to break the windows of a store in the city of Saint-Etienne. A gas cloud formed in the streets due to the intense pepper gas used by the police. Police sources stated that a protester in the city of Saint-Etienne was seriously injured and his hand was severed. Different stores, including branches of luxury brands in Paris and other cities, were looted. Approximately 400 people have been detained across the country so far.
French Interior Minister Laurent Nunez reported that 550 thousand people participated in the demonstrations across the country. Organizers announced this number as 800 thousand.
REACTION FROM MACRON: "THERE IS NO PLACE FOR VIOLENCE IN THE REPUBLIC"
French President Emmanuel Macron said in a statement on the social media account of US-based company X: "There is no place for violence in the Republic." he said.
Macron claimed that law enforcement officers guaranteed the right to demonstrate by announcing that a lawsuit would be filed and punished against those who caused havoc and attacked the governorship buildings and shops within the scope of the protests. Stating that he supports law enforcement, Macron stated that they will stand against the "spreaders of chaos" who try to destroy French institutions and prevent those who want to express their demands peacefully.
