Paris police fire tear gas as more than 300,000 march across France in latest anti-government protests
Police in Paris have fired tear gas during the latest anti-government protests in Frnance as more than 300,000 people march across the country.
Huge crowds have again taken to the streets for a third consecutive weekend of nationwide demonstrations, with authorities bracing for violence after nightfall. Demonstrations are also taking place in a number of cities in Germany and Albania.
Around 70,000 police officers and gendarmes have been deployed across France, with Saturday’s marches pushed away from central boulevards to the outer fringes of major cities.
French interior minister Laurent Nuñez has warned of a “very high risk” of coordinated disorder, cautioning that Halloween will not be accepted as an excuse to wear masks or trigger street violence.
The mobilisations follow two weekends of unrest that have seen widespread rioting, looting, arson, and mass arrests across the country.
At Porte de Bagnolet, on the eastern edge of Paris, several thousand people have gathered on Saturday afternoon behind a line of high school students leading the march hand in hand.
Stewards from the CGT union kept watch at the front of the procession, while riot police lined adjacent side streets.
Among those on the march was 21-year-old university student Corentin Cabreux, who said squalid conditions in student housing forced him to turn out.
“I live 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,” he said.
Mr Cabreux added that he hoped the turnout would remain peaceful to counter government depictions of the movement as mere cover for rioting.
In recent weeks, police crowd-control tactics have drawn fierce criticism from trade unions and legal monitors following the repeated use of tear gas, water cannon and dispersion grenades.
Anger mounted earlier this month after a 15-year-old student had their hand blown off after picking up an explosive stun grenade.
While France previously suspended the use of stun grenades for student rallies, Mr Nuñez confirmed that all intermediate crowd-control weapons remain authorised if officers face targeted assaults.
Mass protests in the country began last month when secondary school pupils walked out over staff shortages, deteriorating school buildings and a university admissions system seen as unfair to disadvantaged students. The movement has since widened into a broader challenge to Emmanuel Macron’s government, drawing in trade unions and left-wing groups opposing economic reforms.
