More than 100,000 people marched across France on Saturday in a fifth consecutive weekend of protests over the rising cost of living, though turnout fell to its lowest level since the movement began, officials said.
The Interior Ministry counted 106,000 demonstrators nationwide, including 24,000 in Paris, Al Jazeera reported. Student unions put the figures far higher, at 200,000 across the country and almost 100,000 in the capital. Either way, the turnout was down from 146,000 nationwide and 46,000 in Paris last Saturday, and well below the peak of 550,000 recorded on October 17.
The marches, dubbed "Act V" of the protests, brought together Yellow Vest activists, trade unions, students, climate campaigners and groups campaigning for children's rights. In Paris, the main march set off from Place de la République at 1 p.m. and headed to Place de la Nation via Bastille, on a shared route approved by the police prefecture for three separate demonstrations.
Saturday's rallies were largely peaceful, but police fired tear gas in Paris, Bordeaux and Nantes. The Interior Ministry reported 121 arrests across France by around 5 p.m., and the Paris prosecutor's office reported 22 arrests, including three minors.
In Lyon, a group of journalists working for BFMTV, the French 24-hour news channel, was violently attacked while covering a march for children's rights, youth issues and climate action attended by about 8,000 people, according to Le Monde. The attack drew condemnation from press groups.
The movement began in September with high-school protests over school funding and erupted on October 17 into a nationwide mobilisation against rising prices, low wages and police violence. Demonstrators are also opposing a bill that would give police officers greater legal protection when they use their weapons, which critics have dubbed a "licence to kill".
Unions have called a new day of strikes and demonstrations for Tuesday, November 17, after rejecting a government promise to raise the minimum wage by 0.6 percent as "crumbs". Tuesday also marks the eighth anniversary of the Yellow Vest movement, which first emerged in 2018 over fuel taxes.
The protests come as France's annual inflation rate climbed to 3.4 percent in October, its highest since December 2023, according to the national statistics institute INSEE. Energy prices rose 24.1 percent year on year.
