French police fired tear gas on Halloween night as scuffles erupted during the third consecutive weekend of nationwide anti-government demonstrations. Authorities reported that more than 300,000 people marched across the country on Saturday in events that were largely peaceful, though officers faced significant violence as night fell and braced for scattered evening unrest.
Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez had warned ahead of the weekend of a very high risk of coordinated disorder, stating that Halloween would not serve as an excuse for masked demonstrations or street violence. Approximately 70,000 police officers and gendarmes were deployed nationwide. To prevent a repeat of prior commercial district rioting, marches were redirected away from central boulevards to outer urban fringes. In Paris, authorities barred access to the Place de la République and Les Halles between 23:00 and 06:00, while unaccompanied minors faced a 21:00 curfew near the Champs-Élysées.
On the eastern edge of Paris at Porte de Bagnolet, several thousand people gathered behind a leading line of high school students holding hands, while CGT union stewards maintained positions at the front of the procession alongside lined riot police. Among the demonstrators was 21-year-old university student Corentin Cabreux, who said he joined the march due to squalid living conditions in his state-run student residence.
“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,” Mr. Cabreux said, adding that he hoped turnout remained peaceful to counter government characterizations of the movement as cover for rioting.
Crowd-control tactics have drawn intense criticism from trade unions and legal monitors following repeated deployments of tear gas, water cannons, and dispersion grenades. Public anger intensified earlier this month after a 15-year-old student suffered severe injuries, including a blown-off hand, after picking up an explosive stun grenade. While France previously suspended stun grenades for student rallies, Mr. Nuñez confirmed that intermediate crowd-control weapons remain authorized if officers face targeted assaults.
The demonstrations began last month when secondary school pupils walked out to protest staff shortages, deteriorating school buildings, and university admissions systems perceived as unfair to disadvantaged students. The movement has since expanded into a broad challenge against President Emmanuel Macron’s administration, drawing in trade unions and left-wing factions opposing economic reforms.
The unrest in France forms part of a wider pattern of youth discontent spreading across Europe. In Germany, marches unfolded across roughly 30 cities coordinated by the youth campaign “Gen Z regelt” (“Gen Z’s got this”), which demands increased funding for education, healthcare, and climate protection while opposing any return to military conscription. Berlin police anticipated around 10,000 people gathering at the Brandenburg Gate, while luxury retailers along the Kurfürstendamm boulevard boarded up display windows ahead of evening demonstrations. Marches in Germany also saw violence, including molotov cocktails thrown at police in Frankfurt.
In Albania, violent clashes between young protesters and riot police entered a second week in Tirana over soaring food prices, low wages, and university fees. Officers fired tear gas on Friday after government and education ministries were pelted with stones and pyrotechnics, resulting in dozens of detentions and numerous injuries among both protesters and police, with further clashes reported on Saturday.
In Italy, riot units remained on high alert across Milan, Turin, and Bologna following recent confrontations between student groups and law enforcement, fueled by circulating TikTok calls regarding precarious job contracts and rising university costs. Meanwhile, regional police in Catalonia activated their highest emergency alert in Barcelona after an anonymous TikTok network called Blocus urged fresh gatherings, following riots the previous Saturday that led to approximately 130 arrests, predominantly involving minors, and prompted the sealing off of commercial district access routes.
