French protesters chant against inflation, police

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PARIS: Protesters waved the French flag from the top of a Paris statue on Saturday, as demonstrators across France vented a broad range of frustrations from ...

PARIS: Protesters waved the French flag from the top of a Paris statue on Saturday, as demonstrators across France vented a broad range of frustrations from the rising cost of living to opposition to a new police bill. Around 106,000 people attended protests in France on Saturday, including 24,000 in Paris, the interior minister said, in the lowest turnout estimate for weekend rallies in recent weeks. Student unions put the number of demonstrators at 200,000, including almost 100,000 in the capital.

The European Union’s second largest economy has been gripped by high-school blockades and demonstrations demanding better wages for more than a month, before presidential elections next year to replace Emmanuel Macron. Some of the largely peaceful rallies have seen fringe violence, as well as accusations of police brutality, including against young teenagers.

“No justice, no peace,” a protester shouted into a megaphone on the capital’s Republique square on Saturday afternoon, as people took to the streets for the fifth Saturday in a row. Yellow Vest movement member Benjamin Ball was among several thousands of protesters in Paris, who also included students, unions and rights activists.

“The government has only given us crumbs, and we want the whole bakery,” he said. Adrien, a 20-year-old cello player who came as part of a volunteer orchestra, said the focus of the day was a new bill in parliament to give police who use their weapons a presumption of legitimate self-defence. “We’re scared when we come to a protest, and this will only make us even more afraid if their impunity is strengthened,” he said, after tear gas fell on a similar group of protesting musicians last month.

Backers of the new police bill — including the far-right party of leading presidential hopeful Marine Le Pen — say a new law is necessary to avoid law enforcement officers being automatically suspected of using disproportionate force. Activists argue it would amount to a “licence to kill”.

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