Mapping how France’s protest wave spread across Europe

More than 1,700 cost-of-living demonstrations have taken place in 31 European countries since mid-September, with France leading the way. France’s protest movement is showing little sign of easing, nearly two months after high school students first walked out over crumbling classrooms.

On Saturday , 146,000 people rallied across the country, including 46,000 in Paris, according to the Ministry of the Interior, while unions put the figures at 250,000 and 75,000. Turnout was down from previous weeks, but police used tear gas and batons on protesters in Paris and fired tear gas canisters at hundreds of people blocking a road in central Lyon, France’s third-largest city.

About 70,000 security personnel were deployed, days after an estimated 575,000 people joined a union-organised rally. The protests have expanded to cover a range of issues, from high fuel prices to wages and social housing, and in some cases, the demonstrations have been marred by looting and violence.