Paris – Tens of thousands of people demonstrated across France on Saturday against inflation and the rising cost of living, and against a new draft law that opponents say gives police officers a "licence to kill".
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France, the European Union's second-largest economy, has faced protests from a range of social groups for more than a month. The most prominent include walkouts by secondary school students and protests against the rising cost of living, ahead of the presidential election scheduled for April.
The Interior Ministry said about 106,000 people took to the streets across France, including 24,000 in Paris, the lowest turnout in recent weeks.
Student unions, however, put the number of protesters at about 200,000, including nearly 100,000 in the capital.
The number of arrests fell markedly compared with previous protests. The Interior Ministry recorded 219 arrests nationwide, while the Paris prosecutor's office reported 45 arrests in the capital.
At the protests, held for the fifth consecutive Saturday, demonstrators gathered in Place de la République in Paris and chanted slogans including "No peace without justice".
Others called for President Emmanuel Macron to resign and chanted "Everyone hates the police".
The protests in recent weeks have been largely peaceful, although they have been marred by riots and looting. Demonstrators have accused the police of using excessive force.
The Yellow Vests movement has joined school students, trade unions and other activists who defend children's rights or oppose a bill that would give police greater protection when they use their weapons.
"The government has given us only crumbs, and we want the whole bakery," said movement member Benjamin Paul, speaking to thousands of protesters in Paris, among them students, trade unionists and human rights activists.
Adrien, a 20-year-old cellist who came with a volunteer orchestra, said he was protesting against the new draft law, which would give police officers who use their weapons a legal presumption that they were acting in legitimate self-defence.
"We feel afraid when we come to protest, and this will only increase our fear if their impunity is strengthened," he said, referring to police firing tear gas at a similar group of protesting musicians last month.
Supporters of the bill, including the far-right National Rally party led by presidential candidate Marine Le Pen, say it is necessary to avoid automatically suspecting police of using excessive force.
Opponents of the text, which has been approved by the National Assembly and will soon go before the Senate, see it as amounting to a "licence to kill" and say it would make holding law enforcement officers accountable extremely difficult.
According to the authorities, about 146,000 people took part in protests across France last Saturday, far fewer than in previous weeks.
The largest protests in recent weeks took place during a strike called by unions last Thursday, when more than half a million people took to the streets across the country, according to official figures.
The unions have called a new strike for Tuesday, after rejecting the government's pledge to raise the minimum wage by 0.6%, which they described as mere "crumbs".
Source: Al-Ghad.
