Day of strikes and protests in France ends with 448 arrests and 53 police officers injured

Summary written by the Panorama newsroom from the sources listed below. Facts are attributed to the original publications.

France's nationwide day of strikes and demonstrations in defense of purchasing power and public services ended on Thursday (5) with 448 arrests and 53 police officers injured, according to a provisional tally from the Interior Ministry cited by DW. The government revised its turnout estimate from 600,000 to 575,000 protesters; unions say 1.6 million people took to the streets, in the country's largest protest this fall.

According to DW, the demonstrations, called in the context of a one-day strike by public-sector workers, were mostly peaceful. There were, however, clashes with police in Paris and in Lyon, where officers used tear gas against a group of protesters. The government said that in cities such as Rennes, Marseille, Nantes and Bordeaux, groups of radical militants formed and attacked security forces with projectiles and fireworks.

The ministry reported 86 fire-related interventions. High schools were damaged in the Paris region, in Toulouse and in Lille, and Education Minister Edouard Geffray called the fireworks attack on a Toulouse school an absolute scandal. In La Courneuve, on the outskirts of Paris, a man stabbed a person who was blocking a school; he was arrested, and the victim's life is not in danger.

Authorities deployed 70,000 police officers to prevent a repeat of October 17, when at least 3,000 stores were looted across the country during unrest alongside protests. Since then, the government has imposed curfews and banned large gatherings, measures criticized by the unions. Sophie Binet, leader of the CGT union confederation, said the government tried to block the demonstrations, but that they were bigger than ever.