About 1,000 people have been arrested following a day of largely nonviolent protests around France. French Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez said this today.
Protesters flung objects at the police in Porte de Vincennes, Paris while barricades were set on fire in Marseille and individuals tore boards from a store in Bordeaux.
The interior ministry said, police were on standby to guard against looting as night fell and tear gas and water cannon were used following clashes in several cities.
As part of a massive security effort over 70,000 police have been deployed across France this weekend. According to the interior ministry, at least 400,000 people demonstrated on Saturday, 110,000 of whom were in Paris.
Protests erupted even today following last weekend’s violence and looting which resulted in over 2,700 arrests.
Several other European nations are also seeing anti-government protests.
While hundreds of people gathered in the cities of Naples, Rome, and Milan in Italy, police in Albania used water cannon amid altercations with demonstrators.