French police detain 1,435 after weekend protests over living costs

Weekend protests and arrests

Demonstrations across France on Saturday, 24 October, drew between 410,000 and 800,000 people according to sources, and the interior ministry put the figure at 410,000 while 70,000 police officers were deployed. The ministry's statement on Sunday, 25 October, reported 1,314 arrests, 53 injured police officers, 75 fires put out and 24 shops looted. On Monday, 26 October, Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez raised the arrest count to 1,435 for the weekend of 24 and 25 October, and said more than 100 people had been held for possessing improvised weapons. Searches turned up dozens of knives, pétanque balls, glass marbles, slingshots and firework launchers, he said. Nuñez described the day as under control with no serious incidents, while also describing a very high level of violence against security forces and citing 267 injured police officers and gendarmes, a figure he set alongside the clashes of 17 October.

Low estimate (per sources)410,000

High estimate (per sources)800,000

Low estimate (per sources)

410000 people

High estimate (per sources)

800000 people

Data from the article text

About 150 protesters were injured according to one estimate cited by the minister, three of them seriously in Toulouse, Rennes and Clermont-Ferrand. The Toulouse prefecture told AFP that a 20-year-old man was seriously hurt in the hand, and a rescuer told AFP that several fingers on one man's right hand had been amputated after an explosion. A regional newspaper reported that a man in Poitiers was hurt in the left eye, and its photographer told AFP he was 19 and was injured during a police assault using stun grenades and tear gas. Authorities have opened inquiries in at least some cases, but it is not yet known whether police weapons caused the injuries.

Government response in Marseille

Emmanuel Macron held a press conference in Marseille on Monday, 26 October, where he praised the security arrangements used on Saturday and said public order had been upheld. He conceded that security forces had not been sufficient and that authorities had not foreseen the scale of the mobilisation, particularly by far-left groups that gathered from the early morning. He warned that the coming weekend could be a high-risk day ahead of the national mobilisation on 5 November, and said planned protest routes would be allowed if they stayed outside city centres to protect shops. Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu was expected to announce "strict measures" after meeting representatives of high school student unions. Nuñez said the movement bans ordered by prefects together with mayors would continue, expected the next big day to be complicated with very strong forces deployed, and noted that Halloween evening is traditionally intense.

Unions and the next mobilisations

Protest groups and unions called on Sunday, 25 October, for new demonstrations aimed at keeping pressure on the government. The SUD Education teachers' union said it would join the 31 October protest, which falls on Halloween, while the CGT confederation said it would decide within the week whether to take part. Miriel Gilbert, co-leader of the left union federation Solidaires, described an accumulation of anger as demands from students, workers and firefighters converge. The yellow vest movement, which began in 2018 in reaction to fuel taxes, has called sit-ins outside town halls and the National Assembly on the coming Saturday. Activist Azelma Sigo said anger is growing in schools, universities, roundabouts, neighbourhoods and workplaces. Macron cut fuel costs in 2019 in response to yellow vest demands, but seven years later public finances leave little room for similar concessions, and his term ends next April.

Scrutiny of police methods

Deutsche Welle reported new complaints of police violence in France, citing viral videos that appear to show officers beating a man until he fell and dragging a young man by the neck, although independent sources could not verify them. Rights organisations have criticised police tactics, including the use of stun grenades and plastic balls fired by LBD-40 launchers. According to the same reporting, several teenagers were seriously injured during student protests in recent weeks, with one losing a hand in an explosion, another losing the sight of one eye and a third suffering a broken jaw. The government therefore faces the dual task of keeping public order while answering social demands within tight budget limits.