France rocked by fourth week of cost-of-living protests, clashes in Paris

France has been rocked by protests for a fourth consecutive week against the rising cost of living and deteriorating living standards. On Saturday (7 November), about 146,000 people took part in demonstrations across the country, according to the interior ministry. Labour unions, however, put the number at 250,000.

According to the interior ministry, 46,000 people protested in the capital, Paris. The unions' count put the figure for Paris alone at 75,000. Just days earlier, a rally organised by the unions drew about 575,000 people.

Around 70,000 security personnel were deployed across the country on Saturday to keep the situation under control. Interior Minister Laurent Nunez warned that law enforcement was ready to deal with anyone involved in vandalism and looting.

Although turnout was lower than in previous weeks, clashes broke out between police and protesters in Paris. AFP reported that a group of about 200 people attacked police officers who were trying to arrest a man accused of setting fire to a rubbish bin in a square in Paris.

Video circulated online showed police firing tear gas and beating protesters with batons to disperse them. A police officer was also seen striking a protester with a baton.

In Lyon, in the south-east of the country, several hundred people blocked a road after gathering without permission. Police later fired tear gas to disperse them.

Al Jazeera correspondent Natasha Butler reported that, alongside students, people from various professions joined Saturday's protests, many expressing solidarity with the youth movement. Quoting a railway worker, she said protesters felt it was important to stand with young people as well as to protest the rising cost of living.

Butler added that labour unions, weakened in recent years, now see fresh momentum in the movement. Workers want to use this moment to press the government to ensure pay rises and better opportunities at work.

The movement began in September, when students started protesting poor conditions and a lack of resources in France's secondary schools. It then spread across the country around falling living standards and various grievances. Students are leading the protests, but people of different ages and professions have joined in.

France is due to hold a presidential election next April. Opinion polls put Marine Le Pen, candidate of the right-wing National Rally, in the lead, followed by Jean-Luc Mélenchon of the left-wing France Unbowed party.

On Saturday, Mélenchon announced his election programme before about 17,000 supporters, promising to run the economy in the opposite direction to current President Emmanuel Macron. The left-wing leader pledged to boost the economy by increasing consumer spending and to use existing wealth to meet the country's environmental and social needs.