A nationwide day of protest

Protesters took to the streets across France on Saturday, 17 October, in a national mobilisation against rising living costs, higher fuel prices and weaker public services. Students, unions, activists and supporters of the gilets jaunes movement all joined the call. BBC reporting said the protests had begun weeks earlier in schools in the poor northern districts of Paris, where anger over teacher absences and run-down buildings grew into a national movement against inequality and weak public investment. Researcher Magali Della Sudda, who wrote a book on the gilets jaunes, told Adnkronos that the authorities' use of force against high school pupils had left many people feeling disrespected and uneasy. She suggested that the past few weeks could have persuaded people who had been cautious to join the convergence of marches.

Paris: an authorised march and clashes

The authorised march ran from Place de la République to Place de Clichy, and the first marchers reached the finish point calmly. The interior ministry said the vast majority of people were demonstrating without incident, but it also reported acts of vandalism and several hundred far-left militants seeking confrontation with police and rescue workers. Most of the hostile crowd stayed at Place de la République, where officers used water cannon and tear gas to push them back. Firefighters put out several fires involving vehicles, and a car was set alight in the area while onlookers applauded. Reports put the number of detentions in Paris at 61 by 11am, with 589 preventive checks carried out, and at 163 by mid-afternoon. Police sources told Bfmtv that between 30,000 and 60,000 people were expected in Paris, and between 90,000 and 170,000 across the country.

CNews offices and other cities

Hooded people blocked access to the car park in front of the CNews building in western Paris around 7am, Adnkronos reported. Le Figaro said objects were thrown at the windows, causing damage, and that about a hundred people took part, not the few dozen first reported. The channel is owned by ultra-conservative tycoon Vincent Bolloré, and Le Figaro said several newsrooms had been named in protester discussion groups as 'enemy propaganda channels'. In Marseille, a municipal police post and several shops were attacked, windows were smashed and smoke bombs were thrown inside, while a deliberate arson attempt was foiled with no injuries reported by the prefecture. A shop belonging to the telecoms operator Sfr was among the targets there. In Lyon, the prefecture said a group of 40 was dispersed near a bridge over the Rhône and about ten people were moved on near the Feyzin refinery, while AFP and local media reported that protesters set fire to the city's tourism office. In Rennes about twenty people blocked a road with bins and pallets near a large shopping centre, and in Marseille the boulevard du Prado was briefly blocked before CRS officers cleared it.

Government appeals and blockade warnings

Emmanuel Macron, speaking from Brussels on 16 October, appealed for calm and said the right to protest had to go hand in hand with respect, without insults or damage. Sources close to interior minister Laurent Nuñez warned that blockades on strategic roads or at essential infrastructure would not be tolerated. The website 17octobregiletjaune.net listed more than 1,750 planned actions, including rallies, roundabout blockades, bridge actions, petrol stations, toll booths, rail stations, ports, refineries and oil depots. Blockades recorded so far were fewer than had been announced on the eve of the protests. The interior ministry confirmed more than 270 detentions across France by the afternoon, according to BBC. BBC Paris correspondent Hugh Schofield said the main march appeared peaceful, while small groups wandered the capital, some clearly intent on causing disorder.