PARIS
\nDemonstrators took to the streets of France \u200bon Saturday under the watch of 70,000 police officers, with unrest appearing markedly less severe than a week earlier despite scattered confrontations in several cities.
\nTens \u200cof thousands of people marched peacefully through the French capital, according to police numbers, denouncing the high cost of living and accusing President Emmanuel Macron of cutting public services while failing to tackle rising inequality.
\n\u201cDown with the state, the police and the fascists,\u201d some of the flag-waving crowds chanted.
\nElsewhere, police fired tear gas at people in Clermont-Ferrand, Grenoble, Lille and Nice, where a water cannon was deployed after protesters \u200brefused orders to pull back.
\nIn France\u2019s second and third cities, Marseille and Lyon, clashes broke out between hooded youths and police.
\nThe government deployed 10,000 more police \u200band gendarmes than on October 17, when nationwide protests descended into some of the worst unrest in France in years.
\n\u201cWe have to be ultra, ultra responsive,\u201d said Interior Minister Laurent Nunez, who has accused far-left groups and criminal gangs of fomenting violence.
\nNunez told reporters that police had arrested 135 people nationwide by \u200bearly afternoon, many following pre-emptive searches that he said had uncovered fireworks, ball bearings and other items that could be used as weapons.<\/p>\n
SHOPS AND MUSEUMS SHUT
\nMuch of central Paris took \u200bon the appearance of a city under lockdown, with shopkeepers boarding up storefronts, museums closing their doors and more than 20 metro stations shut.
\nBusiness groups urged retailers to remain closed after thousands of shops and businesses were damaged or looted across France last weekend.
\n\u201cThere are hardly any customers, so it\u2019s not really worth staying open,\u201d said Oskar, manager of a Kiton boutique in Paris.
\nSeveral of the capital\u2019s best-known cultural institutions, including \u200bthe Louvre, the Musee d\u2019Orsay and the Paris Opera, closed for the day as a precaution, leaving tourists frustrated.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
PARIS Demonstrators took to the streets of France \u200bon Saturday under the watch of 70,000 police officers, with unrest appearing markedly less severe than a week earlier despite scattered confrontations in several cities. Tens \u200cof thousands of people marched peacefully through the French capital, according to police numbers, denouncing the high cost of living and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":574153,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-574142","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-world"],"yoast_head":"\n