JOEL ROSE, HOST:
Student-led demonstrations over education have broadened into wider social unrest in several European countries. In Albania today, police fired rubber bullets at young people protesting over rising living costs and a luxury development linked to Jared Kushner, President Trump's son-in-law. And in France, hundreds of protest marches have been taking place all across the country. Public sector workers and unions have now joined with the students who have been protesting for weeks. And while most of the demonstrations were peaceful, there were also scenes of chaos, violence and destruction in several cities. We go now to NPR's Eleanor Beardsley, who is out in Paris today, among the protesters. Thanks for joining us.
ELEANOR BEARDSLEY, BYLINE: You're welcome, Joel. Good to be with you.
ROSE: What was it like today? And was the feeling different than at other demonstrations?
BEARDSLEY: Yeah, it really was. I would say France was like a split screen. So I was out amongst peaceful protesters, lots of students. Remember, it began with their demand for better resources, more teachers. They say their school buildings are dilapidated. But it's now been joined by a lot of public sector workers - firefighters, hospital workers, unions - angry over high prices, low wages and what they call general inequality. I spoke with 52-year-old social worker Julie Billat, who says she's especially angry over financial injustice. Here she is.
JULIE BILLAT: We are. All the people who works - They don't earn much. They don't earn a lot of money, compared to some people who earn so much more. It's too much inequality.
ANNE GAUTHIER: (Speaking French).
BILLAT: (Speaking French).
GAUTHIER: (Speaking French).
BEARDSLEY: And her friend, Anne Gauthier, chimes in to say that the police have treated the young people horribly. And there were horrible scenes of chaos and violence today.
ROSE: Yeah, tell us more about that. What has been happening?
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
UNIDENTIFIED COMMENTATOR: (Speaking French).
BEARDSLEY: Well, you know, if you watch news channels like this one, BFM TV, it's just showing live all the violence all over France. In Paris, there's video of people setting fire to cars, huge bike stands, trash cans. There's black smoke billowing not far from the Eiffel Tower. Store windows have been smashed. There's pillaging going on. Young hooded youths broke into the town halls in Lille and Marseille. And in Marseille, we saw footage of them using metal street barricades as a battering ram to break into this ornate city hall. And inside, they threw to the ground a marble bust of Marianne. That is the symbol of the French Republic.
ROSE: Wow. What are people you talk to saying about all of this violence?
BEARDSLEY: Well, this is a huge uptick. We haven't seen it like this in this movement, and students speaking on TV tonight are condemning it and begging authorities and the public not to let this overshadow what they say are their legitimate demands. And they also say TVs only show the worst cause that gets ratings. But a lot of people also say it's the police that have set the tone for this because they've been extremely aggressive with the young people, using tear gas and charging them. And that's what Elliott Seigneur, a 21-year-old who I spoke with today, told me. Here he is.
ELLIOT SEIGNEUR: They gas us. They charge us with, like, literal military weapons. It's actually forbidden to have any type of equipment that is used to protect ourselves to - from the gas, from the charge and stuff like that. So necessarily, violence will break out.
ROSE: Eleanor, these protests have been going on for a month. How are they impacting France's presidential election, which is now less than six months away?
BEARDSLEY: The prime minister blamed what he called extreme violence on radical far-left groups. The far-left France Unbowed Party - whose firebrand leader, Jean-Luc Melenchon, is running for president - blames the police and the government. The far-right party of Marine Le Pen blames a breakdown in order. She's calling for more police, tougher penalties for young lawbreakers. She blames the far left for using the protesters, and it's true far-left politicians marched with the young people today.
Both parties blame President Emmanuel Macron, which is easy because he's been in charge for the last 10 years. They say he's made the country much worse. Analysts say he has lost the French youth today. One commentator said there's a complete political fracture in France, and today has surely deepened that divide.
ROSE: That is NPR's Eleanor Beardsley joining us from Paris. Eleanor, thank you very much.
BEARDSLEY: You're welcome, Joel. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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