PARIS — Thousands of mostly young protesters took to the streets across France on Saturday in a third consecutive weekend of demonstrations over living costs and education.
Some 70,000 police and gendarmes were deployed across the country, and Paris marches were rerouted to the capital’s edge. Youth-led demonstrations were also reported in Germany and Italy.
French Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez warned of a “very high risk” of disorder, especially after dark on Halloween. Police had arrested thousands of people following riots and looting that marred the largely peaceful protest marches on both Oct. 17 and Oct. 24.
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At Porte de Bagnolet, on the eastern edge of Paris, a few thousand people started gathering Saturday afternoon behind a line of students who were set to lead the march hand in hand. Security agents from the CGT, one of France’s largest labor unions, were keeping watch at the front of the gathering, while police were massed in side streets.
The marchers’ grievances are diverse.
Each group carried its own banner: high school students protesting the university admissions system, climate activists, and people angry about the cost of living.
A few Halloween costumes stood out in the crowd, including a zombie Michael Jackson from “Thriller,” a pirate and a Spider-Man. Protesters waited calmly, chanting and singing through megaphones.
Corentin Cabreux, a 21-year-old student, said he lives in a state-run student residence where “there are damp stains all along the bottom of my walls, whole sections peeling off, cockroaches everywhere, rats.”
He said he hoped Saturday’s protest would be festive in honor of Halloween, to counter the image of violence that has attached itself to France’s protests.
Police set curfew and other measures to avoid a repeat of violence
The rallies started last month as a movement of high school students protesting neglected buildings, teacher shortages and a university admissions system seen as unfair to disadvantaged students. Labor unions and others angry at President Emmanuel Macron joined in with a variety of demands.
While the vast majority of protesters have been peaceful, groups of troublemakers routinely target police with fireworks and projectiles. Some protests have degenerated into rioting and looting - including unrest on Oct. 17 that appeared to take the government by surprise. Police have responded with tear gas, dispersion grenades, water cannons and other tactics that have resulted in severe injuries.
Macron said that Saturday’s marches would stay out of city centers to protect shops. Police also barred entry to Place de la Republique and Les Halles from 11 p.m. to 6 a.m. Saturday and Sunday.
Unaccompanied minors face a separate 9 p.m. curfew around the Champs-Elysees. A Paris court on Wednesday suspended an earlier curfew on minors as a serious and illegal infringement of freedom of movement.
Protests are also taking place in Germany, Italy and Spain
In Germany, a youth initiative called “Gen Z regelt” - roughly “Gen Z’s got this” - urged protests in some 30 cities “for education, health, climate protection and an affordable life,” and against any return of military conscription. Organizers said more than 180,000 people had signed up online.
Berlin police expected about 10,000 people at the Brandenburg Gate. Some shops on the Kurfuerstendamm boulevard boarded up their windows, although authorities said they were unaware of specific threats of violence. Protests were expected to begin in the early afternoon.
In Barcelona, Spain, Catalan police planned to activate their highest-level alert after an anonymous TikTok network called Blocus urged new gatherings. Rioting there last Saturday led to about 130 arrests, mostly of minors.
Italian police were on alert after clashes in Milan, Turin and Bologna, and calls to protest circulated on TikTok in Belgium, the Netherlands, Austria, Switzerland and Portugal.
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