Hundreds of thousands protest across France as general strike looms and demonstrations spread across Europe

Hundreds of thousands of protesters have demonstrated across France as the country prepares for a general strike in the coming days. In Paris, police fired tear gas and clashed with protesters during a third consecutive weekend of nationwide demonstrations driven by anger over the rising cost of living and poor public services. More than 320,000 people took to the streets around the country, according to France's interior ministry, which said at least 290 protesters were arrested. Police estimated that about 70,000 people demonstrated in the capital. The authorities said they prepared extensively for the weekend's marches in an effort to avoid a repeat of the violence, rioting and looting that took place two weeks earlier. The unrest in France forms part of a wider wave of discontent. Demonstrations also took place in Albania, Germany and Italy, as young people take to the streets across Europe, according to the BBC's correspondent James Waterhouse. The prospect of a general strike in the coming days is expected to test further the French government's response to the protests, which have now stretched across three weekends and drawn some of the largest crowds seen in the current wave of mobilisation.