French Protests Over School Funding and Living Costs Draw Tear Gas, Water Cannons and Arrests

Thousands of students and workers marched in Paris and other French cities on Saturday over school funding and living costs, and police used tear gas and water cannons as some protests turned violent after dark. The Interior Ministry estimated about 400,000 people took part nationwide and said nearly 1,000 people were arrested. Around 70,000 officers were deployed for a second consecutive weekend; Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez said they were backed by helicopters, armored vehicles and water cannons. French media reported tear gas in Lyon, where the rally had been banned, and tear gas and stun grenades in Clermont-Ferrand. Authorities confined the Paris march to the city's southeastern edge, where several thousand people walked from Porte d'Italie, a smaller crowd than a week earlier. In Orléans, thousands marched peacefully against the far right as Marine Le Pen's National Rally held a two-day congress. The movement began last month over staff shortages at one high school southeast of Paris and has grown nationally in the final months of President Emmanuel Macron's presidency.

Right-leaning outlets had not reported this story at the time of writing; left-leaning and alternative/independent outlets had. NBC News, on the left, leads with the scale of the movement and its causes, describing marches by unions, students and workers, bans and restrictions on rallies, the Orléans counter-protest and the school-staffing origin, and it quotes Nuñez on the deployment. BBC News, in the alternative group, instead leads with night-time clashes, fireworks thrown at police, the 400,000 turnout estimate, the near-1,000 arrests and correspondent Nick Beake's view that unrest may not ease soon. Both report tear gas, water cannons and the 70,000-officer deployment; they differ mainly in emphasis, with NBC stressing a mostly peaceful daytime and demands, and BBC stressing violence and arrests.