France Puts Thousands of Police on the Streets as New Protest Wave Hits

France has mobilized heavily for a fresh round of demonstrations on Saturday, a week after unrest left shops looted and vehicles burned. Students and workers are marching over school funding and the rising cost of living, and Paris has been bracing for another large turnout.

Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez said up to 70,000 officers will be deployed across the country, backed by helicopters, armored vehicles and water cannons. In central Paris, a few dozen gendarmes were posted beneath the Arc de Triomphe and along nearby avenues.

Police changed the Paris route on Friday. The march is now confined to the city's southeastern edge, running between Porte d'Italie and Porte de Vincennes, rather than the planned path from Bastille to Nation. Last week's protests drew more than half a million people, and another large crowd is expected.

The movement started last month over staff shortages at one high school southeast of Paris, but it has grown well beyond that. Students are asking for more teachers, better school buildings and more university places. Unions want higher wages and pensions to help households cope with living costs.

Student groups have set out a joint 10-point plan. It calls for 250,000 additional higher education places and an end to selection through the Parcoursup admissions system. They also want an extra 200 euros (about $313 Cdn) a month in student grants and a rent freeze in public student housing.

Cultural venues and businesses are feeling the strain. The Louvre, Musée d'Orsay, Picasso Museum and Grand Palais, which is hosting a major Cézanne exhibit, are closed Saturday. Art Basel opened to the public Friday for a single day, and organizers cancelled the weekend program because of the threat of unrest. Shopkeepers have been barricading their stores all week. Contractor Akram Ahmed, 34, was boarding up an optician's shop near Saint-Lazare station. "I got the call last night," he said, adding that the owner told him he was saving his life. About 3,000 shops across France were damaged or looted last weekend.

Not every rally is allowed to go ahead. Marches are scheduled in Paris and Marseille, but local authorities banned others, including in Lyon, Nice and Montpellier. French media reported that police used tear gas in Lyon on Saturday morning. Trade unions have criticized the bans as violations of freedom of expression, which the constitution protects.

Outside the capital, the damage has been serious. French media reported that two suspects in the fire that nearly destroyed the 19th-century city hall in Limoges were placed under formal investigation and held pending trial. The probe includes attempted murder of a public official. Paris police prefect Patrice Faure urged shopkeepers to hire security guards, then clarified that protecting businesses is the government's responsibility.

President Emmanuel Macron, a centrist, faces the crisis in the final stretch of his term, with his popularity at its lowest since he took office in 2017. He has said the measures are needed to protect city centres, businesses and public buildings. In Orléans, about 110 kilometres south of Paris, thousands gathered for an anti-far-right protest held alongside a two-day congress of Marine Le Pen's nationalist, anti-immigration party, ahead of next spring's presidential election. Victoria Ambrosini, an art critic and art teacher at Saint-Denis University, said money is now "concentrated in the hands of very few people," adding, "it's not possible anymore."