Paris police in new battles with protesters

2,000 arrested nationwide during 'cost-of-living' protests

PARIS:

French police battled protesters and looters for a second day Sunday as the country reeled from the violent chaos left by a day of cost-of-living demonstrations in which 2,000 people were arrested nationwide.

Paris city workers had not finished clearing up the torched cars, smashed shopfronts and burnt debris from Saturday's unrest when the new troubles started and political recriminations erupted.

AFP journalists said several hundred people gathered in the Republique square in the capital following social media calls for a gathering that authorities said had not been approved.

Television footage showed the looting of a clothing store and bikes were also set alight nearby.

The Paris police prefecture said security forces moved in when "faced with the initial signs of tension".

AFP journalists saw police firing tear gas and stun grenades at hundreds of people gathered in the square. Bottles and rocks were hurled at police who made several arrests.

Some 550 people out of 855 arrested in Paris remained in detention from Saturday's troubles and police stations were struggling to cope, according to the Legal Team Paris group of lawyers.

Six months from a presidential election, the government faced opposition attacks over preparations for the nationwide day of action that followed weeks of mounting student

protests over conditions

in schools.

President Emmanuel Macron, who Saturday vowed that anyone who engaged in vandalism or looting would be prosecuted, was to address the nation Sunday evening at 1800 GMT.

Marine Le Pen, the far-right presidential candidate for the National Rally party, said the troubles showed that Macron's administration was "running on fumes, exhausted and disoriented".