France Interior Ministry Reports 980 Arrests After Nighttime Protests

French police detained 980 people on Saturday night after daytime marches turned into clashes in several major cities.

The Interior Ministry estimated that 410,000 people took to the streets, a figure labor unions disputed by claiming approximately 800,000 participants. Authorities deployed 70,000 police officers across the country to manage the crowds. This deployment followed a decree by President Emmanuel Macron earlier in the week, which restricted demonstrations to those organized by recognized trade unions.

Violence broke out in Paris as a march from Porte d'Italie moved toward Porte de Vincennes. An elite police unit, typically reserved for counter-terrorism, joined the operation. Protesters constructed makeshift barricades and threw objects at officers. Police responded with batons against masked youths who were breaking windows at a car dealership. Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez stated that several thousand radical activists were at the rear of the march, including around 500 identified rioters.

Disorder spread to other cities with specific incidents of property damage and police intervention. In Marseille, demonstrators set fire to barricades and blocked streets with metal sheets. In Bordeaux, people tore boards off a shop. In Lyon, police fired tear gas to disperse a crowd of about 150 students in a zone declared off-limits by local officials. Tear gas and water cannon were also used in Paris to push back crowds.

Nuñez reported late in the day that two people had been seriously injured during the events, one in Toulouse and the other in Clermont-Ferrand. He noted that the arrest count of 980 would likely increase. The government aimed to prevent a repeat of the previous weekend, when about 550,000 protesters marched, leading to more than 2,500 arrests and damage to over 2,000 businesses. Chambers of Commerce and Industry estimated that damage from the prior unrest reached hundreds of millions of euros.

Demonstrators cited rising living costs and poor school conditions as primary reasons for their anger. A 26-year-old protester in Paris named Zelie told the BBC that people were suffering a lot. Two masked teenagers in another location said their generation felt abandoned by the government. They acknowledged that looting was not ideal but blamed poverty and police violence, stating the protests would continue until demands were met. Separately, 13,000 people rallied peacefully in Orléans against the National Rally party.

The unrest extended beyond French borders. Riot police fired tear gas at anti-government demonstrators in Tirana, Albania. Clashes were reported in Brussels, while hundreds of soldiers and police in Milan prevented protesters from gathering. Leading contenders in the presidential election, which occurs in six months, have blamed Macron and his ministers for the situation.