More than 1,700 people were arrested across France during the latest “yellow vest” protests as demonstrators clashing with riot police caused more damage in Paris than a week ago, officials said on Sunday.
Clashes broke out in the French capital and other several cities, including Marseille, Bordeaux, Lyon and Toulouse, during a fourth weekend of nationwide protests against rising living costs and President Emmanuel Macron in general.
The embattled president — whose name rang out across the Champs-Elysees as protesters shouted “Macron, resign” — is expected to address the demonstrations in a much-anticipated speech in the coming days.
A total 1,220 of the 1,723 detained were ordered held in custody, the ministry said.
Police in Paris said they made 1,082 arrests on Saturday, up sharply from 412 in the previous round.
The interior ministry said some 136,000 people took part in Saturday’s protests across France, around the same number as on December 1.
But it was Paris which again bore the brunt of the violence and destruction.
Protesters in the capital set fire to cars, burned barricades and smashed windows in pockets of violence, clad in their emblematic luminous safety jackets, as armoured vehicles rolled through the streets.
City authorities said the ‘yellow vests’ had caused “much more damage” than on December 1 protests.
“The sector concerned by the incidents was much larger… With fewer barricades, there was much more dispersion, so many more places were impacted by violence,” Paris deputy mayor Emmanuel Gregoire told France Inter radio.
“There was much more damage yesterday than there was a week ago.”
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