Keyword: protests

French public hospital workers held protest marches in Paris and other cities across the country on Thursday over pay, working conditions and chronic underfunding of services which have led to a shortage of beds and vital equipment, and an exodus of staff towards the private sector.   

For the third day running, French university students continued to mount protests on Wednesday over poor living conditions, prompted by the self-immolation of a student in Lyon who had cited his financial problems as the reason for his act.

A premiere in Paris of Roman Polanski's latest film 'An Officer and a Spy' was cancelled after feminist militants blocked the cinema in a protest against the alleged impunity of the France-based director who, wanted in the US since 1978 for the sexual assault of a 13-year-old girl, and publicly accused of several rapes, now faces a fresh allegation that he raped a French actress in 1975.

Several hundreds of protestors gathered at five major public squares in Paris on Saturday where they lay on the ground for a 'die-in" protest at the number of murders of women in domestic violence crimes in France, holding photos of victims which activists say are among a total of 121 fatalities recorded so far this year, and calling on the government for rapid new measures to deal with the problem.   

French environmentalists took part in worldwide protests led by the 'Exctinction Rebellion' movement on Monday, blocking road traffic in Paris  at and around the place du Châtelet in their second demonstration after the occupation of a shopping centre in the city on Saturday, and promised a series of further actions throughout the week both in the capital and around the country.

Metro stations were closed and violent clashes with police broke out in Paris on Saturday when a march calling for firm action on climate change was infiltrated by what appeared to be so-called 'black bloc' anarchists, damaging a bank and setting fire to a barricade, following earlier tear gas charges on Yellow Vest demonstrators in the centre of the capital, where trades union members also marched in protest at planned pension reforms. 

Renewed 'yellow vest' movement demonstrations were held across France on Saturday, in protests againt President Emmanuel Macron's economic policies and in particular over falling living standards for low- and middle-income households, during which clashes erupted in the north-west town of Nantes. 

Meanwhile environmental group will defy ban on demonstrations in nearby Bayonne with march carrying official portraits of President Macron.

There were violent clashes between demonstrators and police in Nantes, north-west France, on Saturday during a protest at the drowning of 24-year-old Steve Maia Caniço after a violent police charge against a techno party in the town in June, while other protests over his death were also held in Paris, Montpelier, Perpignan and Toulouse by supporters of the 'yellow vest' movement.  

The trade union event also brought both the 'yellow-vest' movement and so-called 'black blocks' of dark-clad protesters onto the streets.

Authorities fear this year's May 1 marches could be tense, barely a week after leaders of yellow vest movement angrily dismissed a package of tax cuts by President Emmanuel Macron.

Paris prosecution services have opened an investigation into reported jibes aimed at police by anti-government ‘yellow vest’ protestors in Paris on Saturday in which they allegedly shouted ‘kill yourselves’ in a reference to a police union revelation last week that 28 officers have committed suicide since January 1st.

The 'yellow vest' movement of anti-government, ant-elite protests over living standards for low- and middle-income earners held its 23rd day of nationwide demonstrations on Saturday, which passed off peacefully in many towns but was marked in Paris by violent clashes with police, while contested interior ministry estimates said fewer people took part than last weekend.

Rolling anti-government, anti-elite nationwide marches by the so-called 'yellow vest' movement, notably in protesrt iover falling living standards for low- and middle-income earners, continued into a 22nd day of action on Saturday, ahead of a much awaited televised address by President Emmanuel Macron on Monday.