Several planned marches in major cities in France were banned by authorities, provoking an uproar by rights groups.
Oct 24, 2026
Hundreds of thousands of people across France have marched in a second wave of mass protests against deteriorating school conditions and the rising cost of living.
France’s Ministry of Interior said 410,000 people protested nationwide on Saturday, including 110,000 in Paris. The CGT, one of France’s largest union confederations, put both figures at nearly double the official totals.
In the capital, a cheerful demonstration started at Porte d’Italie before reaching the Porte de Vincennes, along the Boulevards des Marechaux, by 5pm local time (15:00GMT).
Towards the end of the march, as night fell and temperatures dropped, the mood changed. Tension flared when police fired tear gas and water cannon to disperse the crowd. Some demonstrators dressed all in black could be seen throwing items from the streets.
Authorities said 500 “rioters” clashed with law enforcement agents but the level of violence was not comparable to confrontations during protests last weekend.
Local authorities warned that Saturday’s protest route on the city’s southeastern rim was the only one allowed after the banning of the originally negotiated central road between Place de la Bastille and Place de la Nation. Other protests organised by groups besides unions were also prohibited.
The ban – and the switching of the march to the city’s edge – triggered an uproar and further galvanised students to come out.
“This is a tactic by the government to try to run the movement out of steam – to try to discourage it,” said Emma, a protester and podcaster who did not give her last name.
“Changing a protest route at the last minute really gives the impression that the government wants to render the movement invisible,” said Monica, who is retired from the public education sector and also did not provide her last name.
Young students, teachers, ecologists as well as nurses and union representatives were marching and dancing amid witty slogans and calls for President Emmanuel Macron’s resignation: “Too many billionaires; we are preparing the revolution”, chanted a group. “We are all antifascists,” chanted a second group, echoing a familiar slogan of Italy’s antifascist movement.
In central Paris, businesses were shuttered and shop windows covered with protective panels, while some retailers hired private security. At least 24 metro stations were closed at the request of the police. Major cultural institutions, including the Louvre and the Musee d’Orsay, also closed for the day, while Art Basel Paris cancelled its weekend programme.
More than 70,000 officers deployed; 1,000 arrests
The protests followed authorities announcing that more than 70,000 police officers and gendarmes were being deployed across the country, determined to prevent a repeat of last weekend’s violent demonstrations.
On October 17, protests that had been largely peaceful were marred by widespread looting, vandalism and clashes, with thousands of businesses damaged or ransacked. More than 2,000 people were taken into police custody, according to official figures.
Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said 20 percent more officers would be deployed compared with last weekend. The operation would also involve RAID, an elite police unit usually tasked with “counterterrorism” and other high-risk interventions. Nunez said its officers would not be directly involved in crowd control but would support other police operations.
On Saturday, police arrested “nearly 1,000” people nationwide, Nunez said, adding that officers were confronted with “an extremely elevated level of violence”. Earlier in the day, police said more than 3,000 checks were conducted and 65 arrests made in Paris.
In several city centres, including Montpellier, Rouen and Nice, protests were prohibited on Saturday. In the southern city of Marseille, a union-organised march was authorised under strict conditions. Some clashes between protesters and police were reported. In Lyon, where demonstrations were also banned in the city centre, police fired tear gas to disperse 150 protesters.
On Friday, Macron met representatives of the student movement for the first time since the protests began. He promised more teachers and a deep overhaul of Parcoursup, the admission system for accessing universities. But the meeting failed to defuse tensions, with student representatives calling for further mobilisation until the government presents concrete actions.
Wider discontent
The protests began in mid-September, when high school students blockaded their schools over what they described as deteriorating conditions, including dilapidated buildings and teacher shortages, as well as what they see as an unfair system for accessing higher education.
The movement has since become a focal point for wider discontent over the cost of living, inequality and Macron’s presidency.
More than half a million people took to the streets last Saturday, following calls from student organisations and remnants of the ‘yellow vest’ cost of living protests that shook France in 2018. The movement has announced a protest next Saturday.
The unrest comes as France approaches a pivotal presidential election in six months. Macron is constitutionally barred from seeking a third consecutive term and will leave office in 2027.
The violence has also put renewed focus on the far right, whose leading figure, Marine Le Pen, has long pledged to restore law and order. Recent polls say she’s the leading contender to be the next president by a wide margin.
In Orleans, thousands of people yelled antifascist slogans against Le Pen’s National Rally, which held its party congress over the weekend.
On Saturday, the party confirmed the re-election of Jordan Bardella as its president, winning nearly 99 percent of the vote. On Sunday, Le Pen and Bardella are expected to deliver speeches to about 10,000 supporters to officially kick off their presidential campaign.
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