Protesters clash with police in France as new PM starts job

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00:00France, where police have arrested nearly 300 people amid widespread anti-government protests.

00:05In Paris, clashes erupted as police fired tear gas to disperse crowds.

00:10Meanwhile, firefighters were called to a downtown neighborhood after a restaurant

00:14that was set fire to, threatened to spread to the nearby buildings.

00:19Across the country, roadblocks, traffic jams and demonstrations have brought daily life to a halt.

00:25Still, today's protests fell short of the movement's bold call to block everything.

00:30Authorities have prepared for the worst, deploying 80,000 police officers nationwide.

00:36Well, let's get the latest now from the ground.

00:38France 24's James André is standing by for us at Place de la République.

00:42James, just bring us up to speed with what's happening where you are.

00:49Well, look, right now what we have is a bit of that police action you were talking about

00:53unfolding before our very eyes here on that Place de la République.

00:57It's, you know, it is the end of a day of protests.

01:00It's raining, as you can see behind me.

01:02And indeed, well, there was a small group of protesters, the last ones, if you will,

01:08who were, you know, wanting to stay as long as possible, who started setting fire to some dustbins

01:14and bicycles and indeed, well, the firefighters had to intervene.

01:19And then the police, basically around, you know, 7.30, decided to storm this square behind me using tear gas

01:26and basically push those last protesters away.

01:28Now, what we have is, you know, some clashes, but to be honest, it's been a reasonably calm day here in Paris

01:37with no major blockades when it comes to the, you know, Parisian ring road, the peripherique.

01:43There have been some groups that managed to, you know, disrupt daily life here in the capital,

01:50including at Léal, that was earlier on this afternoon.

01:53That's a central part of Paris where the police decided to have all the shops closed

01:58as well as a very large shopping mall.

02:00That's one of the main ones in central Paris because they were afraid that there might be looting in these shops.

02:05Also, one restaurant was set on fire.

02:09So that gives you an idea of the intensity of some of these gatherings.

02:13Others were really, really rather calm, like the one we saw with my colleague Julie Dengelhoff at the Gare du Nord,

02:21that's the north station here in Paris that can take passengers to Belgium, Germany or the United Kingdom.

02:27Well, there, there was some minor disruption.

02:31The protesters didn't manage to actually enter the train station,

02:35but there was a sitting and an assembly there where the future of the movement was discussed.

02:41So I was discussing just earlier on with one of these young protesters here on the square.

02:45He was telling me that he felt that the mobilization had not been that huge.

02:49You know, the figures are the following for France.

02:52I just saw this in an official handout.

02:55Basically, 175,000 to 250,000 protesters came out across the whole of the country.

03:02A few thousand here in Paris, but also in some of France's main cities.

03:07And there was also actions on roundabouts across the country where the protesters were trying to block the traffic.

03:14James, I know you've been speaking to protesters today.

03:17What have they been telling you?

03:18Well, the protesters, it's interesting because, you know, this is not a structured movement.

03:25There are no leaders.

03:26There is no official, I'd say, you know, basically official base for this movement.

03:33So when you speak to protesters, a lot of them will give you different answers.

03:36It's very much a mixed bag.

03:38A lot of people told us that they felt they needed to come out here today, specifically at the Place de la République,

03:43because of the Israeli-Palestinian conflicts.

03:46They were wearing Palestinian flags and, indeed, were very critics of France's foreign affairs policy.

03:54Others were telling us that they wanted to see Emmanuel Macron step down.

03:58A lot of people told us that they were disappointed with the appointment of Sébastien Lecornu as a new prime minister,

04:03saying that for them it was more of the same, that they needed to send a message that this was not the governance they wanted for France.

04:10And we spoke to a lot of very young protesters, including this morning when we went to a high school that had been blocked with dustbins

04:18and, indeed, courses were suspended.

04:20These young people were saying that they feel that they don't really have their say in what's happening in French politics at the moment,

04:26that they feel that they're being targeted by some credit cuts and that they feel that they absolutely need to take action.

04:32So this is what people were telling us today.

04:35Also people telling us this evening that they felt that the movement had not been as massive as they were hoping

04:41and that, indeed, the next step needed to be discussed at this stage, but, indeed, that they were still mobilized.

04:52James, thank you so much for that update.

04:56Thank you for bringing us up to speed there.

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