Police Vans Speed Through Lyon Hours Before Riots Engulf City Center

Lyon, France – A convoy of police vans raced through Lyon with sirens wailing on Saturday morning, October 17, as protesters against the rising cost of living marched through the city chanting "Ah! Ah! Anti-capitalist!" behind a plume of white smoke.

X user @gourmande007bis filmed both scenes before midday. In one clip, four or five vans with flashing blue lights speed down a tree-lined avenue as pedestrians and cyclists wait at a crossing. In the other, a crowd that includes people in yellow vests and one carrying a French flag presses forward as thick smoke rises ahead of them. That morning, police had fired tear gas to break up about 200 people near the Manufacture des Tabacs, then again as an undeclared march set off from Place Guichard toward the Rhône.