Photos: Clashes erupt in France during protests over rising living costs

Clashes have erupted across France as hundreds of thousands of people marched against rising living costs, a week after protests descended into rioting and prompted a tough security response from President Emmanuel Macron’s government.

Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said police arrested nearly 1,000 people nationwide on Saturday and faced “an extremely elevated level of violence” from black-clad “ultra-left” demonstrators.

Riot police fired tear gas in Paris and other major cities, including Marseille, Lyon, Bordeaux, Lille, Toulouse, Montpellier and Nantes as officers moved to disperse crowds and protect shops and public buildings.

Authorities deployed about 70,000 security personnel across the country for the latest demonstrations in a bid to prevent a repeat of the unrest from a week earlier when public buildings were vandalised, hundreds of businesses were looted and 2,700 people were arrested.

Nunez said Saturday’s outcome was more “positive”, citing faster police interventions, more pre-demonstration checks and stronger protection for commercial areas.

At least two people were seriously injured, including a man in Toulouse who reportedly had fingers blown off and another person in Clermont-Ferrand, Nunez said, without giving details.

Despite the government’s claims of an improvement, rights advocates and protesters voiced anger over what they saw as an assault on freedoms and the right to demonstrate, six months before the election to choose Macron’s successor.