Registrieren

Tear gas filled the streets of Lyon as protesters returned across France despite a dramatically reinforced police deployment aimed at preventing another weekend of disorder. France deployed 10,000 more police and gendarmes than the previous weekend. By early afternoon, Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said 135 people had already been arrested nationwide. Authorities also carried out pre-emptive searches, saying officers seized fireworks, steel ball bearings, slingshots, improvised weapons and other potentially dangerous objects. But in Lyon, the confrontation was already visible as police fired tear gas while demonstrators marched over rising living costs and deteriorating public services. The government says the heavier security presence is necessary after the violence, vandalism and looting of October 17. Protesters critical of police tactics see scenes of tear gas surrounding demonstrations as evidence of their own complaint: that social anger is increasingly being met with riot-control measures.