Hundreds Arrested as Cost-of-Living Riots Engulf French Cities
More than 270 people were arrested as protests uniting students with a revived yellow vest movement turned violent across France. Protesters burned down Lyon’s tourism office, stormed Marseille’s town hall and torched cars in Paris, where police used tear gas and water cannon. Benoit Payan, Marseille’s mayor, said the situation was “out of control” and called on national authorities to intervene.
The unrest began last month in high schools in Paris’s poorer northern suburbs and has widened into anger over fuel prices, which have soared since the US-Iran war began. The Yellow Vests claimed 1,756 mobilisations, including protests at refineries, oil depots and ports. Sébastien Lecornu, the prime minister, said more than 900 police had been injured. French public debt is projected to exceed 120 per cent of GDP next year, and borrowing costs are at their highest in more than two decades. With Marine Le Pen leading presidential polls, both the far left and far right are exploiting the turmoil.