France protests live: 135 arrested as marches held under tight security

More than 70,000 police officers and gendarmes were deployed across France for protests over deteriorating school conditions and the rising cost of living. Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez said 135 people had been arrested and police had seized items including fireworks, slingshots, a katana and airsoft weapons, with no major incident reported so far. In Lyon, police fired tear gas to disperse about 150 people who tried to block a road in an area where demonstrations were banned. In Paris, a union-led march took a peripheral route after authorities prohibited the originally agreed central route.