France deploys thousands of police amid a new wave of protests

Paris: Paris braced for a fresh march by students and workers over school funding and soaring living costs on Saturday, one week after violent unrest left shops looted and cars burned. The new march was restricted to the city's southeastern edge, away from the centre, as police deployed in force across France. Scenes of looting, burned-out cars and attacks on public buildings left the impression that the government had lost control, as groups of masked vandals targeted businesses in Paris and other city centres.

Police imposed the new route on Friday between Porte d’Italie and Porte de Vincennes, replacing the planned march from Bastille to Nation.

The movement began last month over staff shortages at one high school southeast of Paris. It now reaches well beyond the classroom. Students want more teachers, better school buildings and more university places.

Unions are demanding higher wages and pensions to help people meet the cost of living.

Police in France used tear gas and arrested hundreds as widespread demonstrations over underfunding in schools evolved into scenes of anger and unrest over the cost of living.

Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez said as many as 70,000 officers will be deployed nationwide, along with helicopters, armored vehicles and water cannons. In central Paris, a few dozen gendarmes, or military police officers, were stationed beneath the Arc de Triomphe and along the nearby avenues. A massive turnout is expected again after more than half a million took to the streets last week.

Major museums, including the Louvre, Musée d’Orsay, Picasso Museum and Grand Palais — where a major Cézanne exhibit is on display — are closed Saturday. Art Basel, one of the world’s most prestigious contemporary art fairs, opened to the public Friday, but only for the day, with the threat of unrest prompting organizers to cancel the weekend program.

Parisian shopkeepers have been barricading their stores all week. Near the Saint-Lazare train station, Akram Ahmed, a 34-year-old contractor, was boarding up an optician’s shop.

“I got the call last night,” he said. “The owner seemed desperate. He said I was saving his life.”

Police fired tear gas and water cannons at protesters blockading French high schools — as students, teachers, parents and unions took to the streets against what they say is underfunding of the education system. Rights groups and students have accused authorities of using disproportionate force against minors. The government has responded to the demonstrations with riot police and says the movement has been hijacked by outsiders and morphed into urban violence.

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