Nearly 1,000 people were arrested in nationwide protests in France, Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez said Saturday, after demonstrations over the high cost of living and the country's education system earlier in the day remained largely peaceful. Nuñez said the number of arrests is expected to rise significantly. He said marches "passed off well" in cities, but police officers found themselves confronted with "an extremely elevated level of violence" from "ultra-left" groups later in the day.
Nuñez said some shops and businesses had been looted, but "the scale was far smaller" than a week earlier, when some 3,000 businesses were damaged or looted. He said police acted more rapidly and conducted more pre-demonstration checks. Businesses and shopping centers had also been better protected.
Earlier Saturday, the interior minister said police had confiscated weapons including metal balls, lead pellets, fireworks, slingshots, steel balls, improvised weapons, a katana and airsoft weapons, he said. The French Interior Ministry said about 410,000 people participated in about 298 protests around the country. Union organizers from the General Confederation of Labor put the number at around 800,000.
An explanation for the discrepancy was not immediately available. Some confrontations were reported between authorities and demonstrators in several cities, but as of Saturday evening there had been no repeat of the major street violence and rioting that erupted amid similar protests last week. Nuñez previously said that French authorities were preparing to maintain order this weekend by maintaining up to 70,000 officers nationwide along with assets including helicopters, armored vehicles and water cannons.
Nuñez said authorities will remain "on high alert" overnight and into Saturday. Paris had prepared for unrest, with shops boarded up and events including those related to the NFL's first French football game canceled, but authorities described the atmosphere in the city as "calm." Thousands gathered at the Porte d'Italie on the city's southeastern rim for an authorized demonstration. The march had originally been set for the Bastille, near the city's center, and was changed to the more remote Porte d'Italie at the last minute.
Union representative Murielle Guilbert told reporters that it was "scandalous" that Macron had forbidden protesters from demonstrating "where we wish to demonstrate," but participants complied with the change. The front of the march ended without incident. Some chanted "We are not happy" as they peeled away from the Porte de Vincennes.
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