Saturday was supposed to show that French anger over prices reaches far beyond the capital. By evening the interior ministry was counting 272 detentions nationwide and talking of an “escalation in violence” – the clearest sign yet that a revolt started by schoolchildren has grown into something much wider.
The call to march came from the Yellow Vests, the fuel-price movement that rattled Emmanuel Macron’s government eight years ago, this time under a “yellow and youth” banner. Trade unions, climate activists and high school pupils fed up with crumbling classrooms joined in. An early official tally put turnout at about 33,000 people spread over 140 separate actions.
The most striking pictures came from Marseille. Masked demonstrators swung metal crowd barriers like a battering ram against the door of the town hall at the Old Port, pushed into the lobby for a few minutes and sprayed an anarchist symbol on a wall before officers cleared them out. Mayor Benoît Payan called the damage limited and said the president had promised him extra police. A municipal police post in the city was attacked as well.
Other cities saw similar scenes. Lyon’s tourist office went up in flames, Grenoble’s city hall was damaged and in Avignon people forced their way into the courtyard of the prefecture. In Paris, where gatherings near the Élysée, the prime minister’s residence, the Champs-Élysées and railway stations had been banned, a car and a newspaper kiosk were torched while riot units answered with tear gas and water cannon.
Behind the anger lies a squeeze on household budgets. Fuel has become far more expensive since the US-Iran war broke out this year, and a recent survey found roughly 45 percent of the French worried about living costs. “At the end of the month, I have nothing left,” one civil servant told AFP at a small rally in Guéret.
Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu had already accused Jean-Luc Mélenchon’s La France Insoumise of exploiting the pupils’ protests for electoral gain – a charge that is likely to grow louder as the country edges toward its next presidential election.
