Police made nearly 1,000 arrests following mass protests across France, with confrontations reported in several cities and two people seriously injured, according to officials.
In Marseille, authorities said rubbish bins were set on fire and metal sheets were used to obstruct streets. Video from the scene showed a law enforcement vehicle driving through a burning barricade in the country’s second-largest city.
Arrests across France during mass protests
In Bordeaux, some demonstrators in dark clothing and face coverings were seen removing boards from a building to assemble a street barricade, local footage indicated.
In Lyon, police deployed tear gas grenades to break up a crowd that had gathered in an area designated off-limits by the local prefecture. “There were around 150 of us, mostly secondary school and university students. Then the tear gas came almost immediately. You could barely see anything in the street,” one protester said.
Interior officials said late in the day that close to 1,000 people had been detained nationwide, a figure expected to rise as operations continued.
The interior minister added that two people were seriously injured, one in Toulouse in the southwest and another in Clermont-Ferrand in central France.