Police have used tear gas in the northern city of Lille in a confrontation with hundreds of protestors.
Videos showed police charging dozens of protestors, many of whom were wearing face masks. The protestors fell back and then regrouped.
Within the last few minutes, clashes began in the southern port city of Marseille, according to live coverage on CNN affiliate BFMTV. Riot police used tear gas there too.
Tensions were also running high in the southeastern city of Nice on the Mediterranean coast, where police tried to disperse demonstrators in the center of the city, using loudspeakers to order people to evacuate the area.
Tear gas was also deployed for more than an hour earlier in Lyon in central France, as scattered groups of protestors moved from street to street.
The regional authorities said that “several groups of individuals with hostile intentions were preparing to commit acts of violence and vandalism by masking and hooding themselves.”
“After warnings and demands for dispersal, with no reaction from the demonstrators, law enforcement used tear gas measures,” the Prefect of the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region said on X.
“Internal security forces were targeted by numerous projectile throws, including iron pellets. These individuals began erecting barricades,” it added.
