PARIS (AP) – On Saturday, violent clashes, fires, and looting disrupted demonstrations throughout France, as hundreds of thousands of individuals marched against rising living costs and inadequate conditions in schools. Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez reported approximately 400 arrests nationwide amidst the unrest.
Nuñez indicated that 110 marches took place, collectively drawing around 550,000 participants across the country. However, organizers including the CGT labor union and student organizations asserted that the number of demonstrators reached about 800,000.
The Interior Minister characterized the troublemakers as “extremely violent, radical far-left groups” intent on provoking confrontations with law enforcement and targeting public buildings such as city halls and government offices. He noted that these groups were accompanied by individuals willing to loot local businesses, with most of those arrested being adults.
Incidents of violence continued into the evening in central Paris. French President Emmanuel Macron condemned the violence via a message on social media platform X, asserting that those responsible for vandalism, attacks on government property, and looting would face prosecution and punishment. Macron emphasized the need for unity against those inciting chaos and disrupting peaceful expressions of public demand.
In Paris, police utilized tear gas and water cannons to disperse crowds of individuals wearing hoods and masks who were throwing objects including fireworks and paving stones at officers. Journalists from the Associated Press reported seeing thick black smoke rising from burning vehicles and trash bins, along with a newspaper kiosk that was set ablaze and several shops that were looted. Multiple individuals sustained injuries during the confrontations.
Many metro stations were closed at the request of police, especially those located near the Champs-Elysées, the presidential palace, parliament, and various government offices. In contrast, a significant number of peaceful protesters participated in a march moving toward northwestern Paris, chanting the national anthem while waving flags and playing trumpets and violins.
In Lyon, France's third-largest city, approximately 20,000 demonstrators participated, where a fire broke out within a tourist office. Meanwhile, in Marseille, protests led to damages of shops and a municipal police station, with protesters briefly entering the lobby of City Hall.
Nuñez reported additional violence perpetrated by masked groups against local government buildings in Bordeaux, as well as break-in attempts at the city halls of Lille and Calais and a police station in Brest. Clashes also erupted in several other cities, including Rennes, Toulouse, Montpellier, and Grenoble. In Limoges, a medium-sized town in central France, City Hall was set alight, with flames persisting into Saturday evening.
The protests were fueled by public anger over rising living costs and inadequate school conditions, revived through calls on social media echoing the “yellow vest” movement that first emerged in 2018 in response to social injustice. Demonstrators voiced their frustrations with the government as prices for gasoline, energy, and food have surged in recent months.
Sonia Mabrouk, a 40-year-old protester from a suburb west of Paris, attended the demonstrations with her high school-aged daughter, articulating concerns over systemic neglect in public services. Mabrouk criticized governmental policies that disproportionately affect the poorest segments of society, emphasizing the hunger for change among demonstrators who sported fluorescent yellow vests, symbols of the previous protests. “There’s a general sense of frustration and anger,” she remarked.
Student groups that have engaged in sustained protests since mid-September through school blockades called for increased support from the public. The CGT labor union also endorsed the protests, advocating for “higher wages and pensions, lower prices, and the protection of essential public services.” Notably, far-left presidential candidate Jean-Luc Mélenchon, who has supported the high school movements, participated in the Paris protest.
The protests raised renewed scrutiny regarding policing methods after a young protester lost a hand in Saint-Etienne during the events. While the Interior Minister refrained from confirming media reports implicating a police grenade in the incident, the case has drawn attention to the broader use of such riot-control devices, particularly following previous serious injuries sustained by protesters. Although the use of certain police grenades was suspended following a similar incident involving a 15-year-old protester, the suspension did not extend to other protests including those held on Saturday.
