World News by Wild Rose

People have been taking to the streets to demand action.

Hundreds of demonstrations took place across France on Saturday over the rising cost of living, with security forces deployed in large numbers to prevent a repeat of the violence seen last weekend. While the marches themselves “passed off well” in several cities, Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez said members of “ultra-left” groups threw projectiles and fireworks at police in an attempt to provoke clashes. French Communist Party spokesperson Fatima Khallouk shares more details.

There were clashes after night fall as police fired tear gas and water cannon to disperse protesters in a number of cities.

In the early days of the student protests in France, mainstream Western media took the protesters’ claims about poor school facilities and declining resources at face value. Only when the violence spread across the country, and to some of its European neighbours, did people begin to ask whether deeper causes were at play. Leftists blame social problems, from the cost-of-living pressures linked to the war in Ukraine to rising unemployment, especially among the young. Right-wing critics blame...

At least 1,300 people were arrested on the sidelines of Saturday's protests across France and at least 50 officers and three protesters were hurt, the interior ministry said Sunday. The arrests occurred as clashes broke out on the margins of largely calm demonstrations in major cities over the high cost of living.

There were some clashes on Saturday, mainly in major cities and as demonstrations came to an end. French authorities say police made nearly 1,000 arrests nationwide. Here’s a report from our sister channel, France 2.

Manifestantes se reuniram em Paris e em cidades de toda a França neste sábado (24), sob a vigilância de 70 mil policiais, enquanto o governo tentava evitar a repetição dos distúrbios e saques que sacudiram o país no fim de semana passado. O ministro do Interior, Laurent Nuñez, disse que 135 pessoas haviam sido presas em todo o país até o início da tarde, muitas após revistas preventivas que encontraram fogos de artifício, rolamentos de esferas e outros objetos que poderiam ser usados como armas. Notícias relacionadas:França quer impor toques de recolher após fim de semana com tumultos.Alunos e professores protestam na França no maior dia de mobilização.Tensões voltam a crescer; França contabiliza custos de protestos.“Temos que ser extremamente ágeis. Recebemos muitos avisos sobre desordem, tanto de grupos políticos quanto, simplesmente, de criminosos”, disse aos jornalistas. “Vai ser um dia longo.” Enquanto o início da principal marcha em Paris transcorria de forma pacífica, a polícia usou gás lacrimogêneo contra multidões em Lyon, a terceira maior cidade da França. O governo mobilizou 10 mil policiais a mais do que em 17 de outubro, dia em que protestos contra o custo de vida e a deterioração dos serviços públicos se transformaram em alguns dos piores distúrbios que a França viu em anos. Lojas e museus fechados Grande parte do centro de Paris parecia uma cidade em lockdown, com lojistas fechando as vitrines com tapumes, museus com as portas fechadas e mais de 20 estações de metrô interditadas. Entidades empresariais pediram que os varejistas permanecessem fechados depois que milhares de lojas e negócios foram danificados ou saqueados em toda a França no último fim de semana. “Quase não há clientes, então não vale a pena ficar aberto”, disse Oskar, gerente de uma boutique Kiton em Paris. Vários dos mais conhecidos centros culturais da capital, incluindo o Louvre, o Musée d’Orsay e a Ópera de Paris, fecharam como precaução, deixando os turistas frustrados. “Está tudo fechado com tapumes e não sabemos bem para onde ir”, disse Xavier Dolliole, turista da cidade norte-americana de Nova Orleans. A rota da principal manifestação em Paris só foi definida após uma batalha judicial, desencadeada por uma ordem policial de última hora, que afastava os organizadores do centro da cidade em direção às regiões do sudeste da capital. A polícia argumentou que o trajeto original passava por áreas com alta concentração de empresas semelhantes às atacadas no fim de semana anterior. Líderes de esquerda disseram que a mudança tardia tinha como objetivo causar confusão e afastar as pessoas. “Mais uma vez, os que estão no poder criam transtornos para as marchas e prazos impossíveis para que as organizações se reorganizem”, disse o líder da esquerda radical Jean-Luc Mélenchon, que se juntou aos manifestantes nas ruas de Paris. Congresso Muitos manifestantes acusaram o governo de reagir de forma exagerada, com soldados enviados para patrulhar a Champs-Élysées. “Choramos pelas lojas, não pelas pessoas que são empobrecidas o ano todo”, disse Clara Lebbadi, estudante de artes de 22 anos. “Minha amiga e eu quase não viemos porque estávamos com medo, mas viemos justamente porque é importante não deixar a repressão vencer”, acrescentou. A primeira marcha autorizada neste sábado transcorreu pacificamente em Orléans, a cerca de 120 quilômetros ao sul de Paris, onde manifestantes protestaram contra o Reagrupamento Nacional, de Marine Le Pen, que realizava um congresso partidário na cidade. As tensões aumentaram após tiros na sexta-feira (23), a oeste de Paris, quando um atirador, suspeito de agir por ódio islamofóbico, matou uma pessoa e feriu mais quatro, entre elas uma menina de 12 anos. “Viemos dizer à extrema direita, cara a cara, que não temos medo”, disse Bally Bagayoko, prefeito de Saint-Denis e membro do partido de esquerda radical França Insubmissa (LFI). *(Reportagem adicional de Crispian Balmer, Bertrand Boucey, Alessandro Parodi e Elizabeth Pineau) *É proibida a reprodução deste conteúdo.

The Italian government has sent hundreds of soldiers to the country's financial hub ahead of anticipated unrest.

France is bracing for another day of cost-of-living protests, with extra police deployed nationwide to prevent a repeat of the violence that followed last Saturday’s demonstrations. In Lyon, where protests have been banned, police used tear gas to disperse around 150 people who had gathered to demonstrate. Government figures put last weekend’s turnout at more than half a million, and similarly large crowds could take to the streets again today. The movement grew out of high school students’ protests over poor conditions and a lack of resources, and cities across the country have stepped up security. In Paris, the Louvre, Orsay and Picasso museums are closed, while many luxury boutiques have also shut their doors and boarded up their windows following last weekend’s looting. France 24 Journalist Elitsa Gadeva reports the latest.

Protests in Paris began on Saturday, filling the city’s southern edge with the sounds of a brass band playing “Bella Ciao” and portable speakers blaring “I Will Survive”, despite fears of fresh street clashes. Elsewhere in France, police began dispersing unauthorised gatherings in Lyon and Nice, firing tear gas in Lyon as demonstrators defied local protest bans. French authorities expect up to half a million people to hit the streets on Saturday across the country, matching the scale of the...

“You can't police yourself into social cohesion. You can't police yourself into a political future,” explains Andrew Smith, historian of modern France at Queen Mary University of London. He identifies a central paradox confronting the French Republic: the state may possess the means to impose public order, yet lack the political capacity to address the demands and grievances driving mass mobilisation. Smith examines the tensions between social protest, presidential authority and democratic legitimacy amid renewed unrest in France: “500,000 people on the streets of France doesn't happen by chance.”

Authorities say they are determined to prevent another weekend of looting, burned cars and attacks on public buildings.

France arrested 135 people by 1 p.m. Paris time on 24 October as 35,000 marched, down from 60,000 a week earlier, Interior Minister Nuñez said. The post French Protests Shrink as 135 Are Arrested appeared first on The Rio Times.

Bloomberg News Paris Deputy Bureau Chief James Regan tells Bloomberg This Weekend that France is deploying tens of thousands of police and shifting protest routes as authorities try to prevent a repeat of last weekend’s violence and looting. Speaking with hosts David Gura and Christina Ruffini, Regan says unrest that began with student demands has broadened into anger over the cost of living, threatening retailers and tourism as France also contends with fiscal and political strains. (Source: Bloomberg)

France is bracing for another day of mass protests on Saturday, with the government promising that 70,000 police and gendarmes will be deployed across the country amid fears that last weekend’s scenes of violence and looting could repeat themselves. For many Chinese students living in Paris, the events last Saturday were their first taste of a major French protest turned violent. While most said the experience had not put them off staying in France, many said they worried about the country’s...

More than 70,000 police officers are to be deployed over fears protesters will defy restrictions on demonstrations.

Parisians are buying tear-gas canisters and pepper sprays to defend themselves and their property during protests, which are expected to continue over the weekend, the owner of a weapons shop in the French capital has said. France was hit by its worst social unrest in years last weekend as nationwide protests over high prices and declining public services erupted into riots. A town hall was torched, shops pillaged ‌and buildings covered in graffiti as violent groups clashed with police in cities...

Younger Limoges residents see the destruction of their town hall as unfortunate collateral damage in a wider movement. For others, the fire was an unacceptable tragedy.

Hundreds of thousands took to the streets to protest higher living costs and the poor conditions in schools and other public services in France over the weekend. Police arrested nearly 2,400 people after violent groups clashed with officers and looted shops.The widespread unrest deepens political uncertainty in France as it prepares for elections in six months.

Demonstrations across the country turned violent, with cars and buildings set alight and shops ransacked.