Buildings torched as cost of living protests spread across France

French protesters stormed and torched buildings in cities across France in chaotic demonstrations that sought to unite student protesters with a revived yellow vest movement on Saturday.Tens of thousands of people were estimated to have taken part in protests which spread through viral calls on social media and brought together diverse groups including students, farmers, trade unionists, climate activists and people angry about fuel prices and the cost of living.Protesters burned down the Lyons tourism office, torched cars and built burning barricades on the streets of Paris and broke down the door of Marseilles city hall to storm the building, spraying graffiti and damaging furniture.Mayor of Marseilles Benoit Payan said the situation was “out of control” and called for national authorities to intervene.READ MORE“There are young people who are 16, 17 years old. What’s going to happen this afternoon? They’re going to get tear gas grenades in the face because there are troublemakers in the middle of the marches,” Payan told journalists.“We can’t lump protesters with legitimate demands together with these vandals – they’re morons, imbeciles, thugs ... I want them in prison, I want them brought to justice.”Some protesters could be seen wearing the yellow reflective jackets that became the symbol of the gilets jaunes movement that ground France to a halt in 2018 with demonstrations initially triggered by fuel costs. “Macron is the vandal,” read one sign.In some parts of Paris, young people could be seen marching peacefully and chanting the student protest slogan “we’re young, determined and revolutionary”.Protesters throw projectiles during a demonstration to protest against the "high cost of living", in Paris on Saturday. Photograph: Getty Elsewhere in the city centre, protesters, dressed in black with their faces covered, torched parked cars and burned piles of electronic bicycles on the street, their batteries exploding and sending thick dark smoke rising in plumes over the city.Police attempted to gain control using tear gas and baton charges, and by the afternoon there had been 272 arrests across the country.French Republican Security Corps clash with protesters during a demonstration in Paris' Place de la Republique. Photograph: Getty Hard left presidential candidate Jean-Luc Mélenchon blamed authorities in Paris for the disorder, saying they had been tear-gassing the demonstrators’ gathering point on Place de la République “relentlessly”.The far-right National Rally blamed “Mélenchon’s far left” for the “disorder”.“Working France, which is taking the full brunt of inflation and the cost of living crisis, is not in the streets today,” close Marine Le Pen ally Jordan Bardella wrote on social media.“The real mobilisation of the French for purchasing power, for lowering taxes on fuel, for work that pays decently, will be the vote for Marine Le Pen in the presidential election.”Before student protests gathered force in September, viral posts on social media had already called for a revival of the yellow vests movement and for demonstrations across France on October 17th.The protesters came together after a week in which universities shut down and college students joined high schoolers in mass protests in major cities.French president Emmanuel Macron appealed for “calm” and said police forces were facing “difficult times” and “extreme violence”, in a press conference on the eve of the protests in Brussels, where he was attending a meeting of EU leaders.“There is a constitutional right to demonstrate ... there is a responsibility that comes with it,” Macron said. “The problem is when they are disorganised and there are elements there solely to vandalise and cause chaos, and that‘s unacceptable.”