France braces for new cost-of-living protests: shops boarded up, police fire tear gas in Lyon

Tear gas in Lyon and heightened security measures

In France on Saturday, mass protests are expected over the cost of living, and the AFP news agency has deployed correspondents, photographers and video journalists in cities across the country to cover the events. Police and security forces are working to prevent a repeat of the riots, arson and looting that broke out last weekend on the sidelines of similar demonstrations, AFP reports.

Lyon: dispersal in a banned zone

In Lyon, in the south-east of the country, police fired several tear gas grenades to disperse a group of around 150 people, who were protesting in an area where all demonstrations are banned — near a university building and a police station, an AFP journalist reported. Officers moved in after protesters attempted to block a road. Earlier, a police helicopter flew over the city, law enforcement patrolled the streets, and armored vehicles and police buses were stationed nearby. Shops were boarded up, with private security guards posted outside some of them. Social media carried calls to defy the bans on gatherings in the city center.

Paris and Bordeaux: shopkeepers brace for the worst

In Paris, shopkeepers behind boarded-up windows did not know what to expect. “It looks like we'll all have to improvise a bit... We've protected everything as best we could; we'll probably close at 1 p.m. (11:00 GMT) and then stay nearby to keep an eye on things,” Armel Geganton, a bookseller and member of the traders' association in the 12th arrondissement, told AFP. She expressed doubt about the demonstration route approved by the prefecture, noting that some sections of it are “extremely narrow” and pass by a gas station: “I wonder whether the prefecture has Google Maps when they approve routes like this.” In Bordeaux, in the south-west, shop windows were also boarded up in the morning. “Boarding up five windows like ours... costs almost 5,000 euros ($5,600),” Margot Rey, manager of the Altermundi store, told AFPTV on Friday. Craftsman Joseph Fernandez confirmed to AFP the high demand for shop protection on the eve of the protests, adding that if people “want to smash something, they will smash it.”

Marseille and Rennes: citizen patrols and doubts about the bans

In Marseille, France's second-largest city, numerous police buses with armored vehicles and water cannons are visible. Philippe Mamelli, 64, told AFP that he “patrols” the city's streets with a baton on his belt and a pepper spray canister in his pocket, and plans to join the demonstration later. He said he belongs to a group called “Civil Revolution” that supports the protesting students, adding that “rioters undermine” the students' demands. In Rennes, staff at boarded-up shops said they “do not feel at ease” about the protests despite the ban. “Sometimes a ban only makes things worse. Protesting is a right; it's like with children — when you forbid something, it becomes even more tempting,” one of them told AFP. Another employee noted: “I don't know what to expect. Last week children smashed windows even when there were people inside the shops. They were well organized — they even stacked paving stones along the street in advance to use them later.”

What this means

The events primarily affect small businesses: according to figures cited by AFP, boarding up five shop windows alone costs almost 5,000 euros, and traders in several cities are closing their shops earlier than usual. In practical terms, this means rising costs for businesses and changes to shop opening hours on protest days. It remains unclear how large the final marches will be and whether the authorities will manage to avoid a repeat of last weekend's riots — AFP is monitoring the situation as it develops, and the outcome of Saturday will become known later.