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All right, right now, uh, protests erupting in Paris where police are once again clashing with protesters. CBS News foreign correspondent Remy Asencio is in Paris right now and joins us on the phone. Uh, Remy, where are you exactly and what are you seeing? Hey, Vlad. Yeah, good to speak to you. I am in the thick of the protest route from Plast Republic to Nion. This is about a two mile stretch. It doesn't sound like a very long stretch, but it's going slow and it is absolutely packed here in the thick of things. Um, this is France's national day of action and it's not just happening here. It's happening across the country according to the interior minister. Today, right now, uh, something like 180 other marches are
happening in other towns uh, and cities. And you know, looking at the reasons for this, the root causes for this are many and they're familiar to all of us. Um, cost of living, uh, working hard and feeling like you still can't afford things. uh public services here, a big one, schools uh that are run down and in disrepair, teachers uh needing more staff and a lot of people I've been talking to uh parents talking about of their children and whether they're wondering if their children might have it worse uh than they have. Uh right now we have probably about another couple hours of this protest. It's about 4:30
p.m. right now. It's supposed to end at 7:00 p.m. But I will say that in an hour from now, uh that is when sunset happens. And I point this out because that is when the violence uh has erupted in the past of the past several protests. That is when um other I could I suppose you could say opportunistic uh groups they call them black blocks come out and start to um throw for example Molotov cocktails um come out and try to target the police themselves. So we're looking out over the next couple hours. Right now I have to say peaceful uh looking amongst the crowds families um children grandparents uh but then when the sun sets that is what we are looking ahead to and on alert for uh
when things do go violent but right now so many people this is an all sector kind of protest happening not just in Paris around the country 70,000 police have been deployed for this massive year I was told that could be just about all of the police presence for the capital. Uh, and again, it's not just here in the capital, it's across the country right now. I don't know if you know the answer to this. Um, but is there any kind of movement towards some sort of solution? Right. We've seen these protests for weeks at this point. Are there any leaders of the group? Is there any talks
with folks in the government? Because obviously it's, you know, it's incredible to see so much mobilization. Um but I'm just wondering if this is making any kind of impact in terms of at the top levels of changing anything. Right. I mean there is um you could see that as two sides uh of this question. One is that people are coming out in the hopes to force change on the government of Emanuel Maf. On the flip side you could say perhaps people are so desperate thinking that there may not be change that this is the last uh thing that they can do. Um this is not uh just a random event where people are just coming together. They have a focus on the budget. This is all about money. The
budget for the year 2027. They are asking demanding uh the government of Mario McBron listen to them hoping that he will push money into services into education uh into um uh higher salaries. Uh but I don't believe that people are thinking that's going to change over the next uh several months. I believe that they are looking ahead though to next April. That is when we're expecting another election. And that election is being framed as a choice not between something in the middle which Emanuel Mron has been trying to represent uh but something that pushes towards the left. um with Jealukad who a lot of people I've been talking to say he's just too far left for them and then further to the right Marine Le Pen who
is too far right for them. So when I've asked people what do they think about the future they think that this country is polarized even more polarized and the [clears throat] question on whether they can get back to something in the middle uh that is an absolutely open question. So to your thoughts uh Kelly um there is no out what they can do is of the now of the moment and that's why they're on the streets. Yeah. Um, I'm glad that you're there, Remy, because uh one of the things that I've spent the last couple of weeks doing is trying to explain to my American friends um why and in talking to my family and friends that are still in France um why what they may
what Americans may be taking away from what is happening on the ground is not necessarily what is actually happening in France. There's a sense here in the United States that they look at these protests and especially when they turn a little violent and they go, "Oh, see this is a result of mass immigration or this is a result of France of the values of France being very different than what maybe most Americans think French values are." when in fact when you talk to people and I have family on both the left and the right in France whether you are on the left or the right or you're recent or you are have many generations in France all French people believe in this in the right to protest
in the take in the taking of the streets there's something very symbolic about where you are Remy obviously Pubik um all the way down to national is the area that was made famous during the revolution in France Pubique is where the statue of Marian the symbol of France is you're not going to see these protests in the 16th which is a fancier or the eth where the arc the triumpant is. So the notion that you look at these protests and you go oh we need to be careful in the United States cuz we could turn into we should be lucky we should be so lucky to see the kind of protests that we that you see in France when people are upset about how their government is treating them they do take to the streets it's supported by
both Le Pen who's on the right and Mashon who's on the left and of course the centrist as represented by uh Macron. So, um, I'm really glad you're there to give us that context, Amy.
