Protesters blocked roads, set fires and were met with tear gas in Paris and elsewhere in France, ratcheting up pressure on President Emmanuel Macron and turning Prime Minister Sebastien Le Corneille's first day in office into his baptism of fire, the Associated Press reported, BTA reported.
The Interior Ministry said 295 people were detained in the early hours of a planned day of nationwide demonstrations against Macron, budget spending and other issues sparking public discontent.
Although it failed to fulfill its "Let's block everything" goal, the protest movement that began online in the summer has sparked widespread unrest. It clashed with an unprecedented deployment of 80,000 police, who broke down barricades and made quick arrests.
Interior Minister Bruno Retayo said a bus had been set on fire in the western city of Rennes. In the southwest, arsonists damaged electrical cables, halting trains on one line and disrupting traffic on another, transport authorities said.
Today's protests were less intense than the unrest that periodically rocked Macron's administration during his first and ongoing second term as president. They included months of nationwide "yellow vest" protests against economic inequality in 2018-2019.
After his re-election in 2022, Macron has faced the wrath of many French people over unpopular pension reforms. He also faced national unrest and riots in 2023 after the shooting of a teenager by police on the outskirts of Paris.
However, demonstrations and sporadic clashes with police in Paris and elsewhere today have heightened the sense of crisis that has gripped France again since the latest government collapse on Monday, when Prime Minister François Bayrou lost a confidence vote in parliament.