Nearly 1,000 people were arrested across France after another day of mass protests over the cost of living and poor school conditions ended in clashes on Saturday, Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said, adding that the number would rise.
After largely peaceful marches during the day, police fired tear gas and water cannon in several cities, including Paris. Barricades were set alight in the southern port of Marseille, masked protesters ripped boards from a building to block a street in Bordeaux, and police used tear gas to disperse a crowd in an off-limits area of Lyon. Nunez said two people were seriously injured, one in Toulouse and one in Clermont-Ferrand.
The interior ministry estimated that 410,000 people took part nationwide, while unions put the figure at about 800,000. In Paris, masked youths pelted officers and smashed the windows of a car dealership at the end of a peaceful march. Nunez said several thousand radical activists had gathered at the rear of the march, around 500 of them identified as rioters.
Authorities largely avoided a repeat of last weekend's looting and arson, some of the worst disorder in France's modern history. Some 70,000 police officers were deployed, and President Emmanuel Macron had decreed that only protests organised by recognised trade unions would be allowed. Hundreds of people have already been jailed after fast-track hearings for vandalism, arson and looting.
"We really want a change in France," one teenage protester said, adding that the protests would continue until their demands were answered.