Hundreds of thousands of mostly young protesters took to the streets across France overnight in a third consecutive weekend of protests over living costs and education.
About 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.
France's government estimated that 320,000 people protested nationwide Saturday, fewer than in previous protests but still a significant turnout.
Mass protests on October 17 that deteriorated into some of France's worst rioting in years drew more than 500,000 people around France, and demonstrations on October 24 drew 410,000, according to government estimates.
Organisers’ turnout estimates are much higher.
Hundreds of thousands have taken to the streets over the cost of living, military spending and government policies, as clashes in France, Italy and Belgium spark accusations of excessive police violence. (Source: 1News)
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 the previous two Saturdays.
At Porte de Bagnolet, on the eastern edge of Paris, thousands gathered behind a line of students who led 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 on side streets.
The Interior Ministry told reporters that of the 320,000 protesting Saturday, 70,000 people are estimated to have turned out for the main protest in Paris, which police moved outside the city centre to reduce the risk of unrest around government buildings and tourist sites after a last-minute court battle.
The marchers’ grievances are diverse.
The demonstrations began over education concerns but have expanded to wider frustrations over the cost of living and government policy. (Source: 1News)
Each group carried its own banner: high school students, 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 someone dressed as Spider-Man.
Protesters waited calmly, chanting and singing through megaphones.
Corentin Cabreux, a 21-year-old student, said that 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.”
The crowd streamed along the Boulevards des Maréchaux, the ring of avenues that skirts the edge of Paris, in a march that was joyful for hours.
Techno music blasted from speakers, a painter at work along the route drew cheers from the crowd, and some marchers went trick-or-treating.
A police helicopter hovered overhead as the sun set slowly over the city.
Later, clashes broke out near Porte de Charenton, where the march ended. Protesters hurled glass bottles and fireworks at police.
Officers responded with volleys of stun grenades and tear gas. The blasts echoed through the streets, and smoke filled the air as dusk fell.
Many peaceful marchers turned back, coughing, their eyes streaming with tears, and left the march, some scattering into the nearby Bois de Vincennes, one of the largest parks in Paris.
Police impose curfew and other measures
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.
Labour 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 October 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 people from entering Place de la Republique and Les Halles from 11pm to 6am Saturday and Sunday.
Unaccompanied minors face a separate 9pm 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” — rallied in more than 30 cities “for education, health, climate protection and an affordable life,” and against any return of military conscription.
Organisers said that tens of thousands participated in the protests across the country, but official figures weren't immediately available.
In Berlin, young protesters also gathered at Brandenburg Gate on Saturday afternoon, demanding more investments in education and housing.
"We call for more money to be invested in social services and education, as well as in climate protection — in short, in our future — because we are the ones who will be affected by this the longest and who will have to live with it," high school student Lara Breitenbach said.
Janelle Schulz, another high school student from Berlin, also said that the authorities had to invest more money in education.
“At my school, the ceiling is collapsing because of water damage, nothing is being done about it, we have a shortage of teachers, the toilets are broken,” she said.
Later on Saturday, police ended a protest march early in the western city of Cologne after protesters used pyrotechnics, threw stones at them and covered their faces despite a ban.
Police also used water cannons to disperse demonstrators. In the northern city of Hamburg, some protesters also shot pyrotechnics toward police and burned down barricades.
Police used water cannons and tear gas to disperse the crowds in Hamburg.
In The Hague, Netherlands, there was a strong police presence in and around the downtown shopping area on Saturday afternoon after online appeals for protests, and fears of rioting and looting.
However, there was little sign of protests and no major disturbances by midafternoon.
Police frisked some groups of black-clad youngsters, and checked their identities, local media reported. Many stores in the city were boarded up as a precaution.
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