Hundreds of thousands of people demonstrated in cities across France on Saturday, according to The New York Times, in a recurring weekend wave of protest that has repeatedly ended in confrontations with police. The date also fell on Halloween, and French authorities warned that social media appeals urging participants to wear masks and costumes raised the likelihood of renewed disorder.
The interior ministry put the national turnout at 320,000, down from 410,000 a week earlier and 550,000 the Saturday before, the newspaper reported. Paris police counted 70,000 marchers in the capital, compared with 110,000 on the previous Saturday.
Clashes between demonstrators and officers broke out in Marseille, Lyon, Toulouse and Rennes, where police used tear gas and water cannons while trying to clear crowds. In Paris, tensions sharpened late in the afternoon when officers fired tear gas at people who would not disperse, according to The New York Times.
Why it matters
The demonstrations have settled into a weekly ritual that keeps the country on edge and tests the government's ability to contain violence without appearing heavy-handed. The movement began last month with a small number of high school protests in Paris suburbs and has since widened to include university students, public-sector workers and veterans of the "yellow vest" movement that shook France between 2018 and 2020, The New York Times reports.
The timing added a further layer of risk. Officials said online messages had called on people to gather in masks and costumes, and they treated the holiday as a potential trigger for a fresh round of unrest.
A festive march in Paris, and a warning about masks
Along the authorized route in the capital, the atmosphere was largely cheerful. Brass bands played, candy was tossed from a balcony to cheers, and many participants arrived in costumes. Some told The New York Times they hoped to counter the impression left by riots that followed marches on Oct. 17, when destruction and looting broke out.
"I'm really worried about how the riots have been instrumentalized by the far right," Helen Olive, 50, a member of a group of parents dressed as "super parents," told the newspaper. "We want to turn that narrative around."
Arthur Fleury, a 20-year-old literature student, came dressed as a prisoner riding a dinosaur and wore a mask of far-right politician Marine Le Pen. "Protests are about making demands but also having fun," he said, describing his outfit as deliberately absurd.
The mood was not uniform. The New York Times reported watching about half a dozen people dressed in black and wearing masks push rubbish bins into the middle of the crowd; one bin was already alight and they set a second on fire near a police unit. Other demonstrators doused the flames with water, prompting a brief confrontation. "That's no way to protest," one of those who intervened said.
Earlier in the week, Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez said 70,000 officers would be deployed, matching the force used on Oct. 24. That deployment limited arson and looting, though skirmishes still occurred as police dispersed crowds in the evening.
Nuñez told a news conference that authorities were most concerned about trouble after dark. He said calls to assemble had circulated from the far left, the radicalized extreme left and some radicalized "yellow vest" websites, urging people to gather from 8 p.m. in many cities. Some messages were violent, he said, invoking "revolution" and "insurrection." Such gatherings would be prohibited, and anyone attempting to assemble despite the ban would be arrested.
The minister also warned that hiding one's face during a demonstration in which public order is disturbed is a criminal offense — a direct response to the costume appeals circulating online.
Students vow to keep going as the movement broadens
The government has tried to answer some student demands. The Education Ministry agreed to cap certain class sizes, offer low-interest loans for rebuilding school buildings and phase out an unpopular online platform for college admissions, according to The New York Times. Students, who return to class on Monday after a two-week break, were not satisfied and pledged to continue protesting.
Officials have directed blame for much of the disorder at far-left activists. They also confirmed that groups of young men linked to the far right have joined demonstrations, ostensibly to guard shops but often ending up in confrontations with left-wing groups.
French officials have grown increasingly concerned about social media's role in drawing crowds and inciting violence. Speculation that the government had considered temporarily suspending several popular platforms was denied by President Emmanuel Macron, the newspaper reported.
Watch for turnout at the next scheduled demonstrations and for whether the government's ban on evening gatherings holds through the weekend.
