There have been clashes between police and protesters amid mass rallies across France on Saturday, over high prices and social inequalities and the state of the education system.

France's Interior Ministry initially said 60 police officers had been injured in the violence, that number rose by more than double according to Prime Minister, Sebastien Lecornu.

Police arrest hundreds nationwide

Lecornu said 150 police personnel had been hurt and that 1,200 people had been arrested across the country. "It's a miracle the toll wasn't higher," Lecornu said while visiting officers deployed in Paris.

Earlier the Interior Ministry said some 550,000 people turned out for the demonstrations, and that there had been hundreds of arrests made following violent incidents in Paris, Marseilles, Rennes, Toulouse, Angers and elsewhere.

"Such actions include attempted looting, confrontations with law enforcement, the setting of fires to street furniture and the targeting of seats of power and media outlets," the ministry said, blaming the unrest on what it described ​as the "hard-left."

In Paris and Marseille, police fired tear gas at protesters as violent clashes took place.

AFP reported that dozens of shops were looted in Paris, Marseille, Nice, Bordeaux and Lille, where an Apple store was stripped.

The windows of the offices of French broadcasters CNews and Europe 1 in western Paris were also broken by protesters, and AFP journalists reported seeing several parked cars torched.

French President Emmanuel Macron condemned the violence in a post on X and warned: "Those who have broken, attacked the prefectures as well as businesses, looted even our town halls, will be prosecuted and punished." 

Buildings set alight amid unrest

In Lyon, situated in central France, the city's tourism office was set alight with flames and black smoke seen billowing from the building.

In the city of Limoges, the town hall was set alight as unrest broke out. The blaze spread from a wing of the building and eventually reached the roof, where it continued burning as crowds stood watching.

Firefighters were then seen attempting to douse the flames, however, the historic building was largely destroyed by the blaze.

Meanwhile in the northern city of Lille, protesters smashed their way into the city hall and vandalized the premises before leaving, according to an AFP photographer.

Riot police within minutes confirmed that all the protesters had left. 

The protests come on the heels of an initial wave of demonstrations that began last month over the situation at schools in the country, with pupils complaining about teacher absences and run-down facilities.

Macron had called "for calm and respect" ahead of the protests, saying that the right to protest went hand in hand with "respect for people and property."

Scenes of unrest 'don't paint full picture'

In Paris, DW correspondent Jack Parrock said unrest was playing out in small pockets of the city.

"The videos circulating on social media of the violence in France don’t paint the full picture," Parrock said.

"The significant percentage of the people we met out on the streets of Paris were teachers, nurses, students, and workers, who want no part in the unrest, but do also seem to understand why the outbreaks are happening," Parrock explained.

"Amongst those people, we did still witness a collective rage against a government they don’t feel is listening to them," said Parrock.

On the matter of how police were responding, Parrock said they had seen police "seemingly try to show some restraint — clearly intending to deescalate some of the recent tension."

What do we know about the protests in France?

Protest organizers said more than 600 demonstrations were planned across France.

Interior Minister Laurent Nunez told France 2 television that "a pretty big turnout" had been expected, while a police source told the French AFP news agency that authorities estimated nearly 200,000 people would attend.

However, the Paris demonstrators faced restrictions, with police banning rallies around the Elysee presidential palace, the prime minister's office and the Champs-Elysee avenue, along with other key locations.

A march through the center of the city was banned.

The main Paris demonstration began at 2 p.m. (1200 GMT) at the Place de la Republique.

Reports began emerging late on Saturday morning of riot police clashing with protesters in the Saint-Denis area on the outskirts of the capital, as well as near the Gare du Nord train station, among other areas.

Who is taking part in the protests?

Students have been joined by trade unionists and remnants of the Yellow Vests ("Gilets jaunes") movement, which staged mass weekly protests from November 2018 to June 2020, initially against rising fuel prices. They later morphed into protests against the high cost of living and economic inequality in general.

The student protests over the past weeks have been backed by Jean-Luc Melenchon, the leader of the hard-left France Unbowed ("La France insoumise", or LFI), who marched in one demonstration on Tuesday.

The government has blamed the LFI for pouring fuel on the fire of widespread public discontent, an allegation the party has denied.

Edited by: Karl Sexton 

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