France's Fourth Straight Weekend of Cost-of-Living Protests Draws 146,000 by Government Count, Unions Say 250,000

France saw a fourth consecutive weekend of street protests over living costs on Saturday, Nov. 7, with a sharply smaller crowd than the strike-day march two days earlier.

The Interior Ministry counted about 146,000 demonstrators nationwide, 46,000 of them in Paris. Unions put the national figure at 250,000 and the Paris figure at 75,000.

The gap between the two counts is wide, as it has been at every stage of this movement. Organisers' turnout estimates have consistently run much higher than the government's.

Smaller crowds, same anger

The ministry's own counts show a steady decline across the Saturdays. Authorities counted about 550,000 protesters nationwide on Oct. 17, when rioters looted hundreds of shops. The count was 410,000 on Oct. 24, and 320,000 on Oct. 31, when 70,000 people turned out for the main Paris protest, which police moved outside the city centre. Saturday's 146,000 is the lowest figure in that series.

Thursday, Nov. 5, was a different kind of day. A strike backed by education, rail, hospital and postal unions brought out 575,000 people by the ministry's count, revised down from an earlier 600,000 estimate. The CGT union said 1.6 million. The ministry put the Paris turnout that day at 60,000.

That day, the government reported blockades at 81 of the country's 3,700 high schools. The education ministry said around 16 percent of teachers nationwide were on strike.

CGT leader Sophie Binet told the Paris rally that "the question today is not whether we're going to win but rather how much we're going to win." The unions are calling for across-the-board wage increases and tax reforms, while complaining about police restrictions on certain protests.

Clashes in Paris and Lyon

About 70,000 security personnel were deployed across the country on Saturday. Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez warned that authorities would be "ready and waiting" for anyone engaging in rioting or looting.

Clashes broke out between police and some protesters in Paris despite the lower turnout. Footage posted online by the CLPRESS news agency showed police charging at protesters and using tear gas to disperse crowds. A police officer was also seen hitting a protester with a baton.

Police said a group of 200 individuals attacked officers as they were arresting a man who had set fire to a rubbish bin in a square in Paris, AFP reported. In the southeastern city of Lyon, police fired tear gas to disperse several hundred people in the city centre who were blocking a road during an unauthorised gathering.

The Interior Ministry stated that the demonstrations were generally peaceful. Both things can be true: a large majority of marchers staying peaceful while a few hundred clash with police.

For comparison, police made more than 1,300 arrests on Oct. 31, a day when rallies were largely peaceful. Thursday's strike day had produced 448 arrests and 53 injured officers as of 6 p.m., according to the ministry.

The movement's shape

The protests began in September as high school students complained about poor conditions and a lack of resources in French schools. They widened into a broader fight over living costs and inequality, and young people from Germany, Spain, Greece and Italy have followed with similar protests in recent weeks.

Al Jazeera correspondent Natacha Butler, reporting from Paris, said people working in a variety of jobs attended Saturday's demonstrations in support of the student-led movement. She quoted a railway worker who said it was important both to protest against the cost of living and to support young people.

Butler said the trade unions, weakened in recent years, "really feel there is a sense of momentum." She said workers she spoke with say this is their time to press the government for higher salaries and better facilities.

The government's approach has leaned on restriction. Paris police banned union and yellow vest marches through the city centre and ordered a single route along the outer boulevards. Unions and student groups challenged the order in court and lost. President Emmanuel Macron said on Oct. 26 that marches would stay out of city centres to protect shops. A Paris court suspended an earlier curfew on minors as a serious and illegal infringement of freedom of movement. The police response has been criticised as heavy-handed, and internal police investigations have been launched over allegations of brutality.

What comes next

The political clock is running. The protests come ahead of the presidential election due in April, with polls putting far-right candidate Marine Le Pen of the National Rally first, followed by far-left candidate Jean-Luc Mélenchon of France Unbowed. Mélenchon unveiled his programme on Saturday to some 17,000 supporters. France is also trying to redress its dire finances, according to AFP.

The open question is whether Saturday's lower turnout is the start of a fade or a lull between strike days. The unions say they are winning. The government's own numbers show the weekend crowds shrinking while Thursday's weekday strike drew a far larger crowd than Saturday's march.