French authorities detained dozens on Saturday at the start of nationwide protests against the cost of living, in what is likely to be a key indicator of the social climate heading toward elections to replace President Emmanuel Macron.

With just months to go before the two-round elections in April and May to choose Macron’s successor, the demonstrations follow weeks of high-school student blockades demanding better learning conditions.

These have at times turned into violent clashes, and sparked criticism from rights groups that the police have used disproportionate force in response.

The main Paris demonstration was to kick off at 1200 GMT (5pm PKT) at Republique square.

The country’s Yellow Vest movement, which eight years ago staged street protests against Macron’s government over planned fuel tax hikes, has called Saturday’s “yellow and youth” demonstrations. It has appealed to teachers and students, workers, pensioners and farmers to take part in the protests on the first day of half-term holidays.

The protests geared up with a handful of gatherings nationwide on Saturday morning, AFP reporters said.

In the western city of Rennes, around 20 people set up a barricade using trash bins and large pallets on the outskirts of a shopping mall.

Christophe, a 47-year-old carpenter and former Yellow Vest protester who did not give his surname, said he was indignant after seeing what he viewed as police brutality against teenagers in recent weeks.

“We’ve reached the point where the repression is targeting our own children,” he told AFP.

Violence, arrests

In the southern city of Marseille, some protesters attacked a police building, an AFP photographer saw.

Demonstrators clashed with police — who responded with tear gas — and briefly blocked a main road with rubbish bins and scooters before officers cleared it.

“We’re here to protest the deplorable resources allocated to education and against police brutality,” said Aude, a masked student who did not give her surname.

In Paris, where the authorities have banned protests around government buildings, the Champs-Elysees shopping avenue and train stations, police detained around 60 people on Saturday morning. Police officers asked passersby for ID outside the Saint-Lazare station, AFP reporters said.

Protesters in balaclavas in the morning threw projectiles and broke windows at the headquarters of the right-leaning television broadcaster CNews.

“It’s not just a Yellow Vest movement, it’s not just a student movement, it’s all the people who are rising up and that’s why those in power are afraid,” said Benjamin Ball, an activist working on a website for the demonstrations.

More than 600 demonstrations were planned across France, according to the website set up by organisers.

Around 45 per cent of French people are worried about the cost of living and inflation, according to a survey of 2,000 people published earlier this month.

Macron on Friday evening called “for calm and respect”. In Brussels for European Union talks, he added the right to protest went hand in hand with “respect for people and property”.

The unrest has been seized upon by France’s far-left and far-right parties.

Jean-Luc Melenchon, leader of the far-left France Unbowed party, has backed the student protests and marched in one demonstration Tuesday supporting them. Marine Le Pen, who leads in opinion polls for the presidential race, has positioned her National Rally party on the side of the police.