France: 1,200 people were arrested and 150 police officers were injured in the protests

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French Prime Minister Sebastien Le Cornu announced that 1,200 people were arrested in connection with the protests that took place in France on Saturday, while 150 policemen were injured.

“It is a miracle that the toll is not higher,” he said, while inspecting police officers in central Paris.

On Saturday, Paris and many French cities witnessed violence in the midst of demonstrations organized to protest the "high cost of living" in which hundreds of thousands participated, six months before the presidential elections.

While the organizers of the protests said that the number of participants reached 800,000, Interior Minister Laurent Nunez indicated 550,000 participants.

La Republique Square (Republic) in central Paris witnessed tension between protesters and security forces, who used tear gas to disperse hundreds of demonstrators.

The police, whose members were deployed in large numbers in a number of neighborhoods in the capital, resorted to tear gas against hundreds of demonstrators, most of whom wore black clothes and masks, and some of whom fired projectiles and fireworks at the officers.

As the march began, police used water cannons to disperse violent demonstrators.

In Marseille, the second largest city in France, protesters described by Mayor Benoît Payen as "vandals" briefly stormed the municipal building.

The mayor later announced that police reinforcements had been sent to the city.

In Paris, where inspections were intensified to enforce respect for the ban on demonstrations in several areas, law enforcement forces intervened to break up two unauthorized marches, according to the authorities.

A fire broke out in the municipal building, which is classified as an archaeological landmark, in the city of Limoges (central), as well as in a building in central Grenoble in the French Alps, and in a branch of the tourist office in Lyon. Also, two other municipal buildings in Marseille and Lille were stormed and vandalized. Local authorities announced that the governor's residence was looted in Bordeaux (southwest).

Also in Paris, about a hundred demonstrators attacked the headquarters of the C News television channel, owned by conservative billionaire Vincent Bolloré, and threw projectiles at the facade.

Incidents occurred in the city of Lyon in a central square, where groups of masked young men were throwing projectiles and fireworks at police officers, and the police responded by using tear gas and water cannons. About forty people also tried to block traffic on a bridge, while others tried to gather in the vicinity of a refinery.

Protesters stormed the municipal building of the city of Lille in the north of the country, damaging its contents before leaving. In the city of Rennes, a barrier was set up with waste containers and large boards in the vicinity of a shopping mall.

Commenting on these actions, French President Emmanuel Macron said, “There is no place for violence. We will all stand together against the spreaders of chaos, who seek only to destroy our institutions and prevent those who express their demands peacefully from doing so.”

For his part, Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu said that the police "faced very severe violence."