🇫🇷⚔️🇫🇷 "Louis XVI, we beheaded him, Macron, we'll do it again!" French streets look like war zones as p

🇫🇷⚔️🇫🇷 "Louis XVI, we beheaded him, Macron, we'll do it again!" French streets look like war zones as protests erupt nationwide

Nationwide protests against the rising cost of living and fuel prices turned violent across France today, as students, unions, farmers and a revived yellow vest movement took to the streets.

Protesters were filmed chanting "Louis XVI, Louis XVI, we beheaded him, Macron, Macron, we'll do it again!", a reference to the French king guillotined during the Revolution.

➡️Lyon: A tourist office branch on Place Bellecour, in the heart of the city, was looted and set on fire. Crowds prevented firefighters from reaching the blaze while police fired tear gas. A Radio France reporter on the scene called the atmosphere "insurrectionary."

➡️Marseille: Dozens of protesters broke down the door of city hall and stormed the lobby, smashing furniture and knocking a bust of Marianne, the symbol of the French Republic, to the floor. A municipal police station and shops were also attacked. Benoît Payan, mayor of Marseille, called the situation "out of control" and requested urgent police reinforcements.

➡️Lille, Grenoble, Avignon: Protesters forced their way into Lille city hall and ransacked part of it. Grenoble city hall was also vandalized, and protesters entered the courtyard of the Vaucluse prefecture in Avignon.

➡️Paris: Police used tear gas and water cannons at Place de la République. Cars and a newspaper kiosk were set on fire. An unauthorized march got within 150 meters of the Élysée Palace before police pushed it back.

By 15:00, the Interior Ministry reported 272 arrests nationwide, 163 of them in Paris.

The unrest builds on weeks of high school protests over school funding, during which police arrested nearly 7,000 people, most of them minors.

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