BREAKING NEWS IN FRANCE: Why is France involved? France events last minute developments

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 French and Palestinian flags. 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.

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 trying 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. 272 people have been detained across the country so far.

STATEMENT FROM MACRON

In his statement before the demonstrations, French President Emmanuel Macron stated that the right to protest should be respected and said, "The right to demonstrate is fully respected, but this right must also bring with it respect for persons and property."

French Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu also warned that violence was increasing in the protests that have been going on for weeks, and announced that more than 900 police officers and gendarmes were injured in previous protests.