France detains 1,314, reports 53 police injured amid protests
French police arrested 1,314 people and 53 officers were injured during nationwide protests over the weekend, the Interior Ministry said Sunday.
Key Takeaways
AIFrance's Interior Ministry announced on Sunday that police detained 1,314 people during protests that took place across the country over the weekend.
The ministry, as reported by Al Arabiya, said 53 police officers were injured in clashes that broke out on the sidelines of the demonstrations.
The arrests followed violent incidents in major French cities during large-scale protests on Saturday, which were held to denounce rising living costs. This marks the second consecutive weekend of unrest in the country.
French authorities deployed 70,000 police and gendarmes—an increase of 10,000 compared to the previous week—after admitting they had underestimated the scale of the disturbances on the 17th of this month.
The unrest, which has swept France since last September, began with small student demonstrations in the suburbs of Paris over education conditions. These protests quickly expanded into broader opposition to government economic policies and have inspired similar demonstrations in neighboring countries.