Hawzah News Agency- the turnout — and the chaos — was significant enough to suggest that France remains in the grip of acute unrest, nearly two months into a protest movement that began with rebellious high school students.

French officials had said they worried that the holiday would introduce a dangerous element, since demonstrators might conceal their faces. Earlier in the week, France’s interior minister, Laurent Nuñez, promised to deploy 70,000 police officers, matching the numbers on Oct. 24. That operation helped keep a lid on outbreaks of arson and looting, although then, too, there were clashes as the police tried to disperse the crowds in the evening.

In Paris, television images showed the police coming under attack by fireworks and Molotov cocktails.

The interior ministry estimated that nationwide, 320,000 people demonstrated. Protesters and the police also clashed in Marseille, Lyon, Toulouse, and Rennes.

Source: The New York Times