Hundreds of Thousands Protest Again Across France as Police Use Tear Gas in Paris
About 320,000 people joined weekly protests across France on Saturday, with clashes with police in several cities. The movement, started by students, is two months old, and authorities feared fresh unrest on Halloween night.
Protests swept across France again on Saturday, Oct. 31, with the Interior Ministry estimating that about 320,000 people took part nationwide. That compares with 410,000 a week earlier and 550,000 two weeks ago. The movement began with high school students demanding better conditions in schools and has widened into broader anger over the cost of living and high fuel prices. Authorities warned the risk of violence was high because Halloween also fell on Saturday and social media posts urged people to turn up in masks and costumes.
Clashes in several cities
Paris police estimated that 70,000 people marched in the capital, down from 110,000 last Saturday. In the late afternoon, officers fired tear gas at people who refused to disperse. Clashes also occurred in Marseille, Lyon, Toulouse and Rennes, where tear gas and water cannons were used. For most of the day the Paris march was peaceful and festive, with brass bands and many participants in Halloween costumes. Several people interviewed said they wanted to change the narrative set on Oct. 17, when riots spilled out of marches and led to destruction and looting. By the afternoon the ministry had arrested 27 people, compared with 217 at the same point last Saturday.
The government's response
Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez promised to deploy 70,000 police officers, matching the figure for Oct. 24. He said gatherings called for 8 p.m. in many cities, which he linked to far-left and radicalized "yellow vest" websites and which included calls for "revolution" and "insurrection," would be banned, with arrests for anyone who tried to gather anyway. He also noted that concealing one's face during a demonstration that disrupts public order is a criminal offense.
Students' demands
Students return to school on Monday after a two-week break. The Education Ministry has agreed to cap some class sizes, offer low-interest loans to rebuild school buildings and phase out an unpopular online college admissions platform, but students say they will keep protesting. The movement now includes university students, public workers and veterans of the "yellow vest" movement of 2018–2020. President Emmanuel Macron denied speculation that the government considered temporarily suspending popular social media sites.
