[Anchor]
Over the past weekend in France, over 400,000 citizens took to the streets in protests once again. Fortunately, extreme chaos was avoided, but with the demonstrations continuing for over a month, tension remains high. Let us connect to our correspondent on the scene.
Correspondent Kwon Yeongin, large-scale protests have continued for two consecutive weeks. Fortunately, there were no major clashes?
[Reporter]
Yes, that is correct.
I am currently at the Place de la Bastille in Paris.
The rally originally scheduled to be held here last weekend was moved to another location due to a final ban by the authorities.
Although there were clashes between some radical protesters and police at the end of the march, the massive chaos seen on the 17th did not recur.
Police stated that 410,000 people participated nationwide, with fierce clashes breaking out in some areas such as Lyon, leading to 1,314 people being arrested on the spot.
While there were looting incidents at around 20 stores, this was a significant decrease from two weeks ago when some 3,000 stores suffered damage.
[Anchor]
The situation needs to be resolved as soon as possible, but another meeting between the Prime Minister and student organizations is scheduled, correct?
[Reporter]
Yes, in about two hours, French Prime Minister Lecornu is scheduled to meet with student organizations.
The beginning of this crisis was protests by high school students demanding improvements to poor educational environments.
Students have put forward 10 demands, with the core issues being the improvement of school facilities, resolving teacher shortages, and reforming university entrance exams.
However, the outlook for today's (the 26th) dialogue is mostly negative.
With only half a year left in office, the Macron government has already fallen into a lame-duck status, and most of the issues require increased budgets, making it unlikely that the opposition party, which holds a majority, will easily agree.
In the upcoming weekend, a rally by the Yellow Vests—which was canceled last week—has been announced, and a general strike by major labor unions is scheduled for next week.
As a result, local media are describing the relatively peaceful protest atmosphere of last weekend as a "brief ray of sunshine."
[Anchor]
Meanwhile, the protests seem to be spreading beyond France to other European countries. What is the situation?
[Reporter]
Yes, last weekend in Barcelona, Spain, downtown arson and store looting took place, resulting in 128 people being arrested on the spot.
As the unrest originating from France spreads across various parts of Europe, anti-government protests of this kind led to a shift in political power during last weekend's general election in Serbia.
A new political party formed by student organizations that had staged anti-government protests for two years defeated the Vučić administration, which had been in power for 12 years, allowing them to form a new government.
(Video Reported by Kim Si-nae | Video Edited by Lee Seung-yeol)
※
Copying, redistribution, and unauthorized use in AI training are strictly prohibited.