Protesters block Louvre as France faces cost-of-living unrest

Protesters blocked the entrance to the Louvre in Paris on Monday after demonstrations over rising living costs across France escalated into weekend violence, The Korea Times reported. President Emmanuel Macron ordered a security review and rejected his interior minister’s resignation.

The blockade follows four weeks of protests that began with high school students seeking better school conditions, according to The Korea Times. The newspaper linked the wider unrest to rising fuel, food and housing costs.

Museum management and unions identified students at Ecole du Louvre as organizers of the entrance blockade, according to The Korea Times.

The newspaper reported that approximately 500,000 people demonstrated across France and that authorities deployed about 60,000 law enforcement personnel nationwide on Saturday. Masked groups attacked officers, looted shops, broke into public buildings and set fires during the weekend demonstrations.

The report gave an arrest total of more than 2,500. Separately, Justice Minister Gerald Darmanin said more than 2,330 people were taken into police custody over the weekend, 70% of them adults. Nearly 1,000 security personnel were reported injured. Protesters also suffered injuries, including one whose hand was blown off by a police crowd-control grenade.

Macron acknowledged security and intelligence failures but did not announce a state of emergency or curfew, the newspaper reported. He rejected Interior Minister Laurent Nunez’s resignation. Authorities in Marseille announced a ban on public gatherings from noon to 8 p.m. Monday.

French diesel prices have risen nearly 40% since March and gasoline prices 25%, according to the report. Food prices have increased 25% since 2021. More than 2,000 shops were expected to have been affected by the weekend violence, with chamber of commerce president Alain Di Crescenzo estimating damage in the hundreds of millions of euros.

The Yellow Vests movement called for another round of protests on Saturday, according to The Korea Times.