French government defends handling of cost-of-living protests after clashes in Paris and other cities

Hundreds of thousands marched across France Saturday against the rising cost of living, with clashes erupting in Paris and other cities and nearly 1,000 people arrested, though Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez said "the marches went well." Police fired tear gas in Paris, Marseille, Lyon, Bordeaux, Lille, Toulouse, Montpellier and Nantes, confronting what Nuñez called "an extremely elevated level of violence" from "ultra-left" extremists. Two people were seriously injured, and authorities deployed 70,000 security forces for the demonstrations. The protests came a week after rioting that saw looting and 2,700 arrests, with President Emmanuel Macron facing anger over a crackdown seen as limiting protest rights. Far-right activists clashed with leftists in some cities, and similar demonstrations occurred in Italy, Belgium, Spain and Portugal.