Protesters Torch Tourist Office as French Riot Police Fire Tear Gas

Protesters set fire to a tourism office in France as nationwide demonstrations descended into violence, prompting police to deploy tear gas and water cannons.

Yellow Vest activists joined student-led marches on Saturday, creating multiple flashpoints as hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets across the country.

By lunchtime, more than 160 people had been arrested, and authorities warned that the figure was likely to rise considerably.

Fires were burning in several cities by mid-morning as demonstrators erected makeshift barricades and confronted police. Activists also entered Marseille’s town hall, while Lyon’s tourism office was set ablaze.

Demonstrators blocked roads near Paris’s Gare du Nord and the offices of right-wing media organisation CNews. Police used tear gas against protesters in both Marseille and Lyon.

Businesses across the affected areas boarded up their windows and doors, while several Paris Metro stations were closed as a precaution.

President Emmanuel Macron, 48, also faced criticism after appearing carefree at the Plenitude Arena in Paris on Friday night. He and his wife, Brigitte, 73, were seen dancing from a private box during a Celine Dion concert.

Violence broke out in several cities just hours later. Authorities reported 61 arrests in Paris alone by 11am and 166 nationwide.

Students, trade unionists and supporters of the remaining Yellow Vest movement have united to protest poor school conditions, rising prices and what they describe as France’s increasingly strained social model.

Macron appealed for restraint the previous evening, urging demonstrators to show “respect for people and property”.

A police source estimated that up to 200,000 people could participate in demonstrations across France, including around 40,000 in Paris.

Violence erupted on the streets of major cities including Paris, Lyon and Marseille on Saturday as masked protesters set fires, lobbed flares and fireworks and created barricades.

In Lyon, mobs set fire to the tourism office as nearby groups of hooded youths were throwing projectiles and fireworks mortars at the police, who responded with tear gas, dispersal grenades and a water cannon.

The entire building was quickly engulfed in flames and authorities accused ‘violent’ rioters of refusing to allow firefighters to intervene.

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‘Numerous hostile individuals are preventing firefighters from safely intervening in the fire at the tourist office,’ the regional prefect said. ‘Law enforcement is carrying out operations to disperse the violent groups.’

Protesters briefly broke into the town hall of France’s second city Marseille, after ramming through the door.

Several then entered, one spray painting an anarchist ‘A’ symbol on a wall before police intervened, the reporter said. ‘We’re taking the Bastille,’ one demonstrator shouted in reference to the 1789 storming of a fortress during the French Revolution. 

A police station was also attacked in the city, with windows smashed and nearby stores looted. 

The initial wave of protests began last month at high schools in Paris’s poor northern suburbs, where anger over teacher absences and shabby facilities quickly morphed into a nationwide movement against inequality, weak public spending and falling standards.

The protests come at a difficult time for France, as President Emmanuel Macron enters the final stretch of his presidency, leaving behind a polarised electorate and a fragmented domestic political situation. 

Investors ditching French debt, driving borrowing costs to their highest levels in more than two decades, have also underlined the country’s long struggle to get its public finances in order.

Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu said on Thursday that authorities fear unrest during the protests. The government blames the hard-Left France Unbowed (LFI) for inflaming the protests, an accusation LFI denies.

‘This is a moment of fatigue in the country,’ Lecornu said. ‘We are in an atmosphere of perma-crisis: wars, inflation, and issues surrounding purchasing power.’

Opposition chief Jordan Bardella, whose far-Right National Rally leads in the polls ahead of next year’s presidential election, said he expected violence.

‘I’m extremely concerned,’ he said during a visit to the Paris car show. ‘It will be a day of chaos for France.’

Lecornu has said the recent protests have been among the most violent in decades, with more than 900 police injured so far. 

The police have also drawn criticism for their response after reports of serious injuries sustained by protesters, including one 15-year-old who had his hand blown off after picking up a police stun grenade, and a 16-year-old who was blinded by a rubber bullet.

An officer was charged with aggravated violence on Tuesday after allegedly firing the bullet at the student in Tours, France on Sept 30. The family of the injured pupil have blamed the force. 

The internal police watchdog is investigating at least two dozen cases of alleged police violence. France suspended the use of stun grenades for the student demonstrations, but Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said they could be used in Saturday’s protest.

‘If there were to be clashes, all types of intermediate weapons can be used,’ he told Telematin on Friday.

Calls on social media for members of past protest movements to join the fray appear to have worked, raising questions about just how large the protests could grow.

The Yellow Vest movement started in 2018 as a protest against taxes on diesel before morphing into an outpouring of anger at high living costs and income inequality. However, things have been largely quiet since Macron agreed to billions of euros in tax cuts.

Yannick Maillou, a teacher from La Crèche in western France, joined the Yellow Vests in 2018 and remains involved in the movement. He said there were several nearby meeting points for protesters to gather on Saturday, with unions also calling on their members to join.

‘Groups of people providing medical assistance are forming in anticipation of police violence,’ he said.

Myrtil Devillers, another Yellow Vest protester, said he was sympathetic to the protesters’ ‘explosive catch-all of grievances’ although he won’t be protesting on Saturday as he is abroad.

‘I was a Yellow Vest protester when petrol cost €1.40 a litre, so imagine how I feel now that it’s €2.20,’ he said.

‘The justice system is complaining; the education system is complaining; the healthcare sector is complaining; my friends who run businesses are complaining.’