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Hundreds of thousands turned out across France to protest everything from lack of school funding to economic inequality. Police were also out in force to prevent a repeat of last week’s violence.
Transcription
SACHA PFEIFFER, HOST:
In France today around 400,000 people came out in cities across the country to demonstrate. The movement started last month with students demanding better facilities. It has now turned into a wider protest about the high cost of living and social inequality. In response, the French government launched a massive security operation with more than 70,000 police officers. NPR’s Eleanor Beardsley reports.
UNIDENTIFIED PROTESTER: (Chanting in non-English language).
ELEANOR BEARDSLEY, BYLINE: Protesters of all ages and backgrounds took to a Paris boulevard – students, workers, parents, pensioners, and yellow vests, the largely white working-class movement that damaged French President Emmanuel Macron in his first term. These left-wing protesters held placards calling for taxing the rich and for Macron to resign. Dimitry Knoll explains why there is such anger.
DMITRY KNOLL: (speaking French).
BEARDSLEY: “We hate Macron,” he says, “because he has led these ultra-capitalist policies for 10 years that only increase inequality, and young people have less hope for the future.” Knoll does not buy the government’s line that France’s national debt prevents it from doing more for its people. There is money, he says. It is only in the hands of the rich.
SANDRINE DELORIE: (speaking French).
BEARDSLEY: “We pay our taxes, but everything goes down, and we give massive payouts to multinational corporations,” says Sandrine Delorie. Fellow protester Sarah Meloul says they all regret the violence, but police aggression fueled it. And sometimes violence is necessary.
SARAH MELOUL: (speaking French).
BEARDSLEY: “How did they take the Bastille? By force,” she says. The student protests of May ’68 succeeded through violence. Meloul says the government is finally listening.
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UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: (Speaking French).
BEARDSLEY: Another France gathered today 100 miles south of Paris in the city of Orléans, where the far right held its annual party congress.
(JUST)
BEARDSLEY: Polls show far-right leader Marine Le Pen leading in next spring’s presidential election. This is why it is so important to protest, says nurse Jenny Barthelemy.
JENNY BARTHELEMY: Well, now it’s more dangerous because we’re coming to the national front. There are two different Frances. I dont know. I don’t know how to explain it. But we are so divided now. I don’t know if there is anything more to do.
BEARDSLEY: There have been clashes between small groups of far-left activists and law enforcement in several cities, such as Marseille and Lyon. But with 70,000 police on the streets of France, the government has largely avoided a repeat of last week’s violence. But tensions are high across the country, and curfews for minors remain in place in many cities. Eleanor Beardsley, NPR News, Paris.
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