French protesters chant against inflation and police

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French protesters rally against inflation and a police Bill amid nationwide strikes and claims of police brutality. Read more at straitstimes.com.

Demonstrators occupying the base of the July Column at Place de Bastille during the fifth Saturday of demonstrations against the high cost of living, joined by marches against police violence and violence against children, in Paris on Nov 14.

PARIS – Protesters waved the French flag from the top of a Paris statue on Nov 14, as demonstrators across France vented a broad range of frustrations from the rising cost of living to opposition to a new police Bill.

The European Union’s second-largest economy has been gripped by high-school blockades and demonstrations demanding better wages for more than a month, before presidential elections in 2027 to replace Emmanuel Macron.

Some of the largely peaceful rallies have seen fringe violence, as well as accusations of police brutality, including against young teenagers.

“No justice, no peace,” a protester shouted into a megaphone on the capital’s Republique square on Nov 14 afternoon, as people took to the streets for the fifth Saturday in a row.

Yellow Vest movement member Benjamin Ball was among several thousands of protesters in Paris, who also included students, unions and rights activists.

“The government has only given us crumbs, and we want the whole bakery,” he said.

Adrien, a 20-year-old cello player who came as part of a volunteer orchestra, said the focus of the day was a new Bill in Parliament to give police who use their weapons a presumption of legitimate self-defence.

“We’re scared when we come to a protest, and this will only make us even more afraid if their impunity is strengthened,” he said, after tear gas fell on a similar group of protesting musicians in October.

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