France braces for nationwide cost-of-living protests as Macron urges calm

Authorities expect around 200,000 demonstrations across France on Saturday, six months before the presidential election, to protest the high cost of living and demand more resources for education. Police estimate 150,000 participants outside the Paris region and about 40,000 in the capital, with roughly 500 actions planned nationwide.

President Emmanuel Macron, speaking from Brussels on Friday evening, called for calm and respect so that the right to demonstrate is preserved. He said the right to protest must be accompanied by respect for people and property, without insults or destruction.

“It is therefore that I call for calm and respect to preserve this right.”

The Interior Ministry has again authorized police and gendarmes to use stun grenades in cases of extremely serious urban violence. Demonstrations are banned near sensitive Paris sites, including the presidency, the prime minister's services, the National Assembly, and the Champs-Élysées.

Early Saturday, protesters were dispersed near the Feyzin refinery in Rhône, and a filtering blockade was set up near an E.Leclerc store in Rennes. SNCF reported disruptions on the Toulouse-Auch line after a vandalism act at Saint-Agne in Toulouse, where four people dressed in black set two trash fires on the tracks around 5:45 a.m. Traffic was halted to check railway installations, and no arrests were made.