Hundreds of thousands of people marched across France on Saturday in a second weekend of mass protests over the cost of living and the state of the country’s schools. Police detained almost 1,000 — but the looting and arson that overwhelmed them a week earlier did not return.
France’s Interior Ministry put the turnout at 410,000 nationwide, including 110,000 in Paris, Al Jazeera reported. The CGT, one of the country’s largest union confederations, said both figures were close to double the official totals.
Almost 1,000 people were detained during what were largely peaceful demonstrations, CNN reported. Some 70,000 officers were deployed nationwide for the weekend, and more than 280 separate protests were held outside the capital.
The day turned at nightfall
In Paris the march set off from Porte d’Italie and reached Porte de Vincennes along the Boulevards des Maréchaux by 5 p.m. local time. Al Jazeera described it as cheerful for most of its route.
The mood changed as night fell and temperatures dropped. Police fired tear gas and water cannon to disperse the crowd, and demonstrators dressed in black were seen throwing objects. Authorities put the number who clashed with officers at 500.
The most significant detail is a negative one: officials said the level of violence was not comparable to the previous weekend, when shops were looted and buildings set alight and the interior minister conceded police had lost control. Trouble was reported outside Paris — in Marseille, protesters fired mortar fireworks at police, and a jewellery shop and a supermarket were raided — but it did not become general.
The route itself became the grievance
Authorities banned the march route that organisers had originally negotiated, between Place de la Bastille and Place de la Nation, leaving a single permitted route around the city’s south-eastern rim. Protests called by groups other than the unions were prohibited outright.
The ban backfired, Al Jazeera reported: it caused an uproar and brought more students onto the streets. “This is a tactic by the government to try to run the movement out of steam — to try to discourage it,” one protester said.
Anti-government demonstrations also spread beyond France over the weekend. Police in Albania used water cannon, and scuffles broke out in Naples, Rome and Milan.
One claim this desk could not confirm
Hiru News, which carried the story for Sri Lankan readers on Sunday morning, described last weekend’s unrest as the worst rioting in French history. Neither Al Jazeera nor CNN supports that. The comparison this desk has previously recorded, and the one officials themselves use, is the worst street violence in years — not on record. Readers should treat the stronger wording as Hiru’s own.
The two Western outlets also differ slightly on turnout: Al Jazeera gives the ministry’s figure as 410,000, while CNN reports “at least” and “more than” 400,000. These are the same ministry count, rounded differently.
The protests follow nationwide demonstrations on 17 October and the partial curfews imposed days later, and come after a fatal shooting near Paris that authorities are treating as a racist attack.
Sources: Hundreds of thousands protest in France amid heightened police security — Al Jazeera, October 24, Clashes in France after day of mostly peaceful protests — CNN, October 24, Hiru News, October 25.
