France was gripped by nationwide protests on Wednesday as demonstrators clashed with police, blocked roads and set fires in Paris and other cities, intensifying public anger against President Emmanuel Macron and his government.
Authorities confirmed that more than 200 people were arrested during the first hours of unrest, as thousands poured onto the streets under the banner of the “Block Everything” movement.
The Interior Minister announced nearly 200 arrests in the first hours of the planned day of nationwide protests.
Although falling short of its self-declared intention to “Block Everything,” the protest movement that started online and gathered steam over the summer caused widespread hot spots of disruption, defying an exceptional deployment of 80,000 police who broke up barricades and swiftly made arrests.
Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau said a bus was set on fire in the western city of Rennes and that damage to a power line blocked trains on a line in the southwest. He alleged that protesters were attempting to create “a climate of insurrection.
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