EditViolence flares in Paris after largely peaceful protests across France
The French unrest broadened into a wider protest against the government's economic policies and inspired demonstrations in neighbouring countries
Hundreds of thousands of demonstrators marched in France on Saturday, with largely peaceful rallies giving way to clashes in Paris and Marseille as night fell despite a huge security operation aimed at preventing a repeat of last week’s unrest.
The Interior Ministry said 410,000 people took part in protests nationwide, though unions said the true figure was twice as high.
The main demonstration took place on the southeastern fringes of Paris, where at least 110,000 people turned out to denounce rising living costs and growing inequality.
The atmosphere deteriorated sharply after the rally ended. Riot police fired tear gas and water cannon at a group of around 500 hooded youths before they eventually dispersed on a cold, rainy evening.
In France’s second city, Marseille, youths set fire to rubbish bins to block roads, and hurled rocks and bottles at security forces. Police said several stores, including two jewellery shops, were ransacked.
Clashes also flared in Lyon, Bordeaux, Grenoble, Clermont-Ferrand, Lille, Rennes, Nantes and Toulouse.
“In almost every march we saw the formation of these high-risk groups. They broke away from the main body and sought to commit acts of violence,” said Interior Minister Laurent Nunez, accusing far-left activists and criminal gangs of seeking to foment trouble.
Paris in lockdown
Authorities deployed 70,000 police officers and gendarmes, 10,000 more than a week earlier, after conceding they had underestimated the scale of the unrest on 17 October.
Nunez told reporters the violence was less intense than a week ago, when looters and vandals went on the rampage. “What changed was anticipation,” he said.
He also said far-right activists had sought confrontations with leftist groups in the southern cities of Nice and Montpellier, opening a potential new front in the disturbances.
Much of central Paris took on the appearance of a city under lockdown, with shopkeepers boarding up storefronts, museums closing their doors and more than 20 metro stations shut.
Business groups urged retailers to remain closed after thousands of shops and businesses were damaged or looted across France last weekend.
“There are hardly any customers, so it’s not really worth staying open,” said Oskar, manager of a Kiton boutique in Paris.
Several of the capital’s best-known cultural institutions, including the Louvre, the Musée d’Orsay and the Paris Opéra, closed for the day as a precaution, leaving tourists frustrated.
“Everything’s boarded up and we’re not quite sure where we should be,” said Xavier Dolliole, a tourist from the U.S. city of New Orleans.
Hard-left leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon, who joined the Paris rally, predicted the protests would continue until President Emmanuel Macron, whose mandate expires next year, addressed the social malaise in France, one of the world’s richest nations.
“Given the current situation, I think he will come to understand that this will happen again every week. There is still time for (Macron) to give in. After that, the only thing left to him will be the exit door,” Mélenchon told reporters.
Far-right party holds congress
Many demonstrators accused the government of overreacting to last week’s turmoil, as soldiers were dispatched to patrol the Champs- Élysées, a grand boulevard lined with luxury shops and restaurants.
“We shed tears for shops, not for the people who are being impoverished all year round,” said Clara Lebbadi, a 22-year-old arts student.
“My friend and I almost didn’t come because we were scared, but we came precisely because it’s important not to let repression win,” she added.
The first authorised march on Saturday passed off peacefully in Orléans, around 120 km south of Paris, where demonstrators rallied against Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Rally, which is holding a party congress in the city.
A shooting west of Paris on Friday heightened tensions. A gunman suspected of acting out of Islamophobic hatred killed one person and wounded four others, including a 12-year-old girl.
Macron says Paris suburb shooting that killed one person was terrorist and racist act
“We have come to tell the far right, face-to-face, that we are not afraid,” said Bally Bagayoko, the mayor of Saint-Denis and a member of Mélenchon’s France Unbowed party.
Protests ripple across Europe
The nationwide disorder began with small student demonstrations in suburban Paris last month to denounce school conditions. It swiftly broadened into a wider protest against the government’s economic policies and inspired demonstrations in neighbouring countries.
On Saturday Belgian police used tear gas and pepper spray as they clashed in Brussels with anti-government demonstrators, with protests also taking place in a number of Italian cities for a second weekend, and in Albania.
Thousands of protesters marched in major Italian cities on Saturday against rising living costs, war and government policies, with demonstrations remaining largely peaceful in Milan but turning violent in Turin, Rome and Bologna amid a heavy security presence including soldiers.
Portuguese police cleared a large housing-crisis protest camp in Lisbon’s Rossio Square early on Sunday, making several arrests after demonstrators had pitched more than 100 tents following a Saturday march by thousands opposing easier evictions and the end of rent caps.
Around 25,000 people marched peacefully through central Madrid on Saturday demanding stronger guarantees for Spain’s public pension system amid rising living costs and ahead of a snap parliamentary election next month.
Thousands of mostly young protesters clashed with police in Tirana on Saturday in the latest anti-government rally over poor school conditions, the cost of living and corruption, demanding Prime Minister Edi Rama’s resignation after weeks of unrest that began with opposition to a luxury resort linked to Jared Kushner.
Albania student protests turn violent as anger at government grows
With Reuters, with additional reporting by EUalive
Caption: Black blocks clash with police during a demonstration against the high cost of living in Bordeaux, France, 24 October 2026. According to the prefecture, about 15,500 people attended the march, which proceeded despite a ban on demonstrations in parts of the city centre. Authorities deployed around 70,000 police officers and security personnel nationwide to prevent a repeat of the unrest that erupted during demonstrations the previous weekend. EPA/GUILLAUME PINON
Updated: October 25, 2026 - 07:02
