France saw an estimated 800,000 people take to the streets on Saturday in protests over rising prices, falling living standards, and recent police action against student demonstrations. The marches reached within 400 meters of the Élysée Palace in central Paris before the day turned more chaotic.
Demonstrations grew violent in several cities, according to France 24 and other agencies. In Limoges, protesters set fire to the municipal town hall and gutted the 143-year-old building. Clashes between riot police and demonstrators broke out elsewhere, and hundreds of people were arrested. Officials have blamed radical left-wing groups for stoking the violence and damage.
In response, Paris police shut down roughly 25 metro stations, focusing on lines and stops near the presidential palace, parliament, and other government buildings.
The crowds listed four main demands: higher wages and pensions to keep up with the cost of living, government steps to ease inflation and energy prices, better funding for public services, and repairs to rundown schools plus more teachers to fill staffing gaps.
The unrest began last month with walkouts by students and educators in the northern suburbs of Paris. They were angry about chronic teacher absences and crumbling school buildings. That frustration spread quickly, pulling in wider complaints about economic inequality, spending cuts, and the state of public services.
France’s major unions, led by the CGT, backed the rallies and repeated calls for higher pay, price controls, and protection of public services that working-class people rely on.
In the days before Saturday, social media posts openly urged a return to the 2018 Yellow Vest movement. Those jackets—the high-visibility ones French drivers are required to keep in their cars—became the symbol of earlier protests against fuel taxes and economic neglect. Their reappearance this weekend pointed to the same underlying anger that many people feel left behind by current policies.
The government is now trying to restore order while the scale of the protests raises fresh questions about political stability and how France handles its cost-of-living pressures.
