Seen And Heard At France Protests Today, As Police Arrest 135 People

Here is a round-up of what they are witnessing as security forces seek to prevent a repeat of violence and looting that erupted on the sidelines of similar demonstrations last weekend.

‘Distressing’

At Porte d’Italie, the alternate point that authorities have ruled Paris protesters must begin their demonstration, police surrounded a young man with bleached blond hair, emptied his bag on the ground and began going through his belongings piece by piece.

At Porte de Vincennes, where the march is to finish, few businesses had been barricaded, though many had their shutters down.

“It’s distressing. I don’t know where we’re heading,” said Dominique, an employee of a car rental company who preferred not to give her full name. “I don’t hold it against the people who are demonstrating. My grievance is with the rioters — those who come specifically to smash things and to steal.”

Police Are ‘Faster’

A 21-year-old student protester in Lyon, where demonstrators were tear-gassed on Saturday, said police were “highly mobile”.

“As a result, I haven’t been able to find a march all morning. We keep moving around, but since the police have vehicles, they’re faster; they manage to break up the groups before they can even really form,” he said.

“Last week, the police weren’t nearly as mobile. We didn’t run into any issues; the atmosphere was very friendly and good-natured. Today, things are much more complicated … We end up exchanging information like criminals. We’re in small groups — sometimes just pairs — trying to share updates and find other people, but it’s extremely difficult.”

‘Still Open’

Near Paris’s Bastille square, a clothing store removed all its merchandise ahead of the demonstrations, while a nearby restaurant was boarded up despite signs insisting it was “still open”. Many retailers in the capital had wooden boards covering windows.

A heavy police presence could be seen in Place de la Bastille, along with many journalists, but few protesters. Police used a megaphone to tell the crowd that the demonstration had been banned from the area, telling protesters to go to the alternate route near Porte d’Italie “immediately”.

– Not ‘Just One Grievance’

“I don’t think the French people have just one grievance,” said Aliyah, 22, sitting with her mother Ludovine on a cafe terrace near the Old Port in Marseille as they waited for demonstrations. She said people’s primary concern was rising costs.

“The people are growing poorer, the people are unhappy, so they take to the streets to protest,” she said, adding that bans on the demonstrations in some cities “only makes us more determined to show up”.

 ‘Curiosity’

Protests were prohibited in the city of Grenoble, with shops and restaurants open mid-morning — though a curfew was in place in parts of the city and several shopping centres from 6:00 pm (1600 GMT).

Francois-Xavier Chambron, who works at a bar on the city’s Place Grenette, said they planned to stay open at least for lunch, noting that they already had reservations and that people will be around “out of sheer curiosity”.

‘Hotter Than Fascists’

Thousands of people yelling anti-fascist slogans marched in the city of Orleans against a congress by the far-right National Rally (RN) party of Marine Le Pen.

The protest criticised both leading presidential candidate Le Pen and centrist President Emmanuel Macron. “Macron resign. Le Pen in prison,” the crowd yelled, while carrying placards that read “The Youth say ‘screw you’ to the National Rally” and “Hotter than fascists”.

Tear Gas In Lyon

Police fired tear gas to disperse about 150 protesters in the southeastern city of Lyon, in an area banned to all demonstrations, an AFP journalist saw.

Police fired several tear gas grenades to clear the group gathered at a university building and the city police station. Police moved in as protesters tried to block a road.

Earlier, a police helicopter could be seen flying over the city, with security forces patrolling and armoured vehicles and riot police vans parked nearby. Shops were boarded up, with private security guards in front of some. Calls to defy the bans on protests in the city centre had circulated on social media.

 ‘Improvise’

Shopkeepers in boarded-up Paris said they were unsure what to expect.

“It feels like we’re all just going to have to improvise a bit… We’ve secured everything as best we can, we’ll likely close at 1:00 pm and then stay in the vicinity to keep an eye on things,” Armelle Gueganton, a bookseller in the 12th arrondissement, told AFP.

She worried about the route that authorities had mandated for the main Paris rally, pointing out that parts of it were “extremely narrow” and that it passed by a petrol station.

“I have to wonder if they even have Google Maps at the prefecture when they authorise routes like this.”

‘Break Things’

Shops were also boarded up in the southwestern city of Bordeaux.

“Boarding up five storefronts like ours … costs us nearly 5,000 euros ($5,600),” Margaux Rey, manager of the Altermundi shop, told AFPTV.

“There is a high demand for securing shops ahead of the upcoming demonstrations,” confirmed Joseph Fernandez, a tradesman who was “scrambling” to meet the requests — though, he added, if individuals “want to break things, they will”.

On Patrol

Numerous riot police vans could be seen in Marseille, along with armoured vehicles and water cannon.

Philippe Mamelli, 64, said he was “patrolling” the southern port city’s thoroughfares armed with a truncheon at his waist and pepper spray in his pocket before heading to a demonstration later.

He said he was part of a group called “Citizen Revolution” which sought to support the student protesters, adding: “The rioters are undermining” the student demands.

– Not ‘At Ease’ –

Employees of barricaded shops in Rennes said they were worried about Saturday’s events despite a ban on protests.

“Sometimes a ban makes things worse. Protesting is a right — it’s like with children, when you forbid something, it becomes even more tempting,” one employee told AFP. Another said people did not know what to expect. “Last week, it was kids doing the smashing, even while people were still inside the shops. They were highly organised — they even piled up paving stones along the street before using them.”