MORE THAN 400,000 PEOPLE TAKE PART IN DEMONSTRATIONS

PARIS, OCTOBER 24 /SRNA/ - France's Interior Ministry estimated that 410,000 people took part in protests across the country.


Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez said that 70,000 police officers had been deployed nationwide.

Nuñez added that nearly 1,000 people had been arrested during today's protests, warning that the number would rise.

"Numerous attempted cases of looting were thwarted. Thanks to the intervention of law enforcement, there were no attacks targeting public buildings, such as those on October 17," Nuñez said at a news conference.

The minister said that two people were seriously injured today in Toulouse and Clermont-Ferrand. However, he stressed that the 289 demonstrations held today "went well."

Demonstrations were planned and authorized in Paris and Marseille, but several unauthorized gatherings took place in other cities, including Lyon, Nice, Nantes, Bordeaux and Montpellier.

In addition to France, protests over the rising cost of living were held in Italy, and around 25,000 people took to the streets of the Spanish capital, Madrid, today, demanding protection for the public pension system, the Baha news portal reported.