In Paris, several rallies were scheduled and protesters began shortly before 20:00 to make noise by banging on pots and pans using spoons or other utensils. Several hundred people gathered in front of the town hall of the 10th arrondissement, noted an AFP journalist.

The demonstrators carried many flags of the LFI, NPA, PCF, EELV parties or the Attac organization or the CGT, and chanted "Macron resign", or "Paris rise up".

This rally then gave way to three wild demonstrations in Paris, counting a total of some 2,000 demonstrators, said the prefecture, which had identified at the end of the evening 16 garbage fires, all extinguished.

"Demo with a gourd"

Several other "casserolades" were planned in Paris, where concerts of these utensils also took place at the windows, and throughout France.

"It's rather friendly," said Jeanne, 28, a farmer, who was demonstrating in Rennes by tapping on her gourd with her key. "I've done demonstrations but this is my first with a water bottle! I did not want to listen to him at all, I find him condescending, "she continued about the President of the Republic. "I will listen tomorrow to what he said, on France Inter. It's the first time I've done such a demonstration, it's quite telling I think."

Pedestrians walk past burning garbage cans after a concert of pots and pans to protest Emmanuel Macron's televised speech, in Paris on April 17, 2023 © Geoffroy VAN DER HASSELT / AFP

Several hundred protesters gathered on Marseille's Old Port before heading to City Hall, some chanting "Macron resign." Residents supported the protesters by banging pots and pans on their balconies.

In Lyon according to the prefecture, several incidents occurred shortly after 21:00 after the rally in front of the town hall, from where several hundred demonstrators left to walk the streets of the Croix-Rousse district.

Some forced a door of the town hall of the 1st arrondissement before entering the building and tagging the walls of the entrance. Others set fire to the front of the borough's municipal police station and at the same time, a fire broke out in the basement of an adjoining building. On the route of this wild demonstration, projectiles and fireworks targeted the police, who then responded with tear gas. The regional prefect reacted by strongly condemning "these attacks on public property" and assured the police of her support.

In Saint-Etienne, small groups continued to walk in the city center after a demonstration of about 300 people, according to the prefecture, which reported tags, burned garbage cans and smashing windows, including a bank branch. Garbage fires also punctuated the wanderings of demonstrators in Rennes and Caen, and in Nantes and Angers, undeclared demonstrations also took place after the speech.

Concert of pots and pans in Marseille, April 17, 2023 © NICOLAS TUCAT / AFP

In Strasbourg, after the concert of pots and pans that lasted about an hour in the city center, a few hundred people improvised barricades in the middle of the streets using garbage containers or construction objects to block the road to the police, AFP found, and the police repeatedly used tear gas.

The anti-globalization NGO Attac, which had launched a call for "casserolades" in front of town halls, had identified "more than 300 rallies" in France.

burs-tll-tbm-cel/cbn

© 2023 AFP