Crowds of protesters in Paris. Dozens of people have already been detained

Minister Nunez announced that 135 people had been detained since the morning. He said that so far there have been 136 protests on the roads (e.g. pickets and blockades), while a week ago, on October 14, there were 264, i.e. almost twice as many. The minister mentioned the number of 35,000. people "in public space", while last week there were 60,000 of them.

"Currently, the situation in Paris is calm," the capital's police prefecture said around noon.

Confusion before the demonstration in Paris

In the French capital, the demonstration began after 14. Originally it was supposed to take place in the Place de la Bastille, but the authorities did not agree to it and proposed an alternative route. The trade unions organizing the demonstration failed to challenge the decision and announced at noon that they had agreed to a new route. Chaos broke out as some of the demonstrators had already appeared on the Place de la Bastille. After some time, the police ordered them to disperse. There were no clashes.

The head of the far-left party France Untamed (LFI), Jean-Luc Melenchon, called to gather at the demonstration site proposed by the authorities, i.e. in the area of ​​the Porte d'Italie gate, on the southern outskirts of Paris.

Melenchon accused Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu of prohibiting the march on a previously agreed route "at the last moment" in order to "disrupt the right to demonstrate."

Unrest in Lyon and Nice

Meanwhile, in Lyon before noon, police used tear gas to disperse participants of an unauthorized assembly.

Less than 10 people were detained in Nice, where all demonstrations on Saturday were banned. No demonstrations were allowed in Nancy, Caen and Montpellier - in these cities activists appealed against the bans, but their complaints were rejected.

Riots shook France

Last Saturday, there were riots in many French cities during social demonstrations. Public buildings were attacked, and shopping outlets were attacked and looted. Fearing a repetition of these events, the authorities announced that only demonstrations organized by trade unions would be allowed on October 24 and the following days.

On Saturday morning, Minister Nunez warned that he expected groups to appear that would "try to cause incidents" and attack shops, institutions and policemen. The Ministry of Internal Affairs announced the mobilization of 70,000 people throughout the country. officers to ensure safety.