- More than 400,000 people protested across France on Saturday over soaring living costs as 70,000 police stood guard.
- French Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez warned that protests planned for Halloween night are likely to turn violent again.
- Labor unions have called a nationwide strike for November 5 as the movement spreads far beyond students.
- Strained public finances leave President Emmanuel Macron unable to buy peace as he did in 2019.
- Far-right leader Marine Le Pen launched her presidential campaign vowing to make vandals pay for the damage.
More than 400,000 angry French citizens flooded streets Saturday in a second straight weekend of protests over soaring living costs, leaving President Emmanuel Macron with dwindling political options and an interior minister warning that Halloween night could turn “lively.”
The Interior Ministry counted 410,000 participants across roughly 298 demonstrations nationwide (the CGT union claimed about 800,000), with authorities deploying 70,000 police officers. By Monday, officials reported more than 1,400 arrests and about 50 officers injured — significant numbers, though far below the chaos that erupted just one week earlier when over 1,000 police were hurt and some 3,000 businesses suffered damage or looting.
Nationalist groups hit the streets to take on the ultra-left
Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez acknowledged a troubling new development: organized far-right groups squared off against far-left activists in cities including Nice and Montpellier, marking what authorities described as an unprecedented phenomenon. Some claimed they were protecting businesses from vandals.
Nuñez told BFM TV Monday that nationalist movements had openly urged supporters to turn out, and he predicted fresh disturbances for October 31. “Halloween evening is traditionally always a bit lively. We expect it to be complicated again,” he said.
Police confiscated an arsenal on Saturday, including a katana, slingshots, fireworks and airsoft weapons. In Toulouse, a 20-year-old man reportedly lost fingers, though Nuñez gave no details on how.
Unions call a November 5 strike as Yellow Vests plan Halloween sit-ins
Labor leaders aren’t backing down, calling for a nationwide strike on November 5. The Solidaires union federation and SUD Education have already committed to October 31 demonstrations, while the massive CGT union has yet to make up its mind. The grassroots Yellow Vests movement — born eight years ago in opposition to fuel taxes — wants supporters staging sit-ins at the National Assembly and at town halls across France.
“There is anger in this country. It’s growing in schools and universities, on roundabouts, in neighborhoods, on farms and in workplaces,” activist Azelma Sigaux told reporters.
The movement has snowballed far beyond its origins in high school protests over teacher absences and crumbling school buildings. Now it draws from trade unionists, firefighters, and ordinary workers fed up with stagnant wages and deteriorating public services.
“The state prevailed this weekend. The state was strong,” government spokeswoman Maud Bregeon insisted, though she conceded protesters’ demands deserve answers.
2019 versus 2026: Why Macron can’t buy his way out this time
Back in 2019, facing the Yellow Vest revolt, Macron had the fiscal firepower to throw money at the problem, cutting fuel costs and buying peace.
Not anymore. With France’s public finances under severe strain, his centrist party short of a parliamentary majority and his term running out in April, there’s simply no cash for big-ticket concessions.
The toll on commerce is devastating. Many shops have kept their shutters down since the October 17 rampage, and sales have plunged by roughly 80%, according to Alain Di Crescenzo, who leads the CCI France chambers of commerce network. “We have shopkeepers who are tired and demoralized, and we are killing local commerce,” he told Radio Classique.
Meanwhile, Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Rally is positioning itself as the law-and-order alternative. Sunday she launched her presidential campaign in Orleans before more than 8,000 supporters, vowing: “Vandals will pay and if it takes their whole life to pay, then they will spend their whole life paying.” Polls show her best placed to win next spring.
The unrest isn’t contained to France. Belgian police fired tear gas in Brussels. Italian authorities arrested nine and detained 371 across eight cities, deploying 500 extra soldiers to Milan.
As October 31 approaches, Paris is reaching for the stick instead of the checkbook. The government has banned marches it deems illegitimate, pushed protesters out of city centers and is fast-tracking a “vandals pay” bill that could stick peaceful marchers with up to €10,000 in damage they didn’t cause. Le Pen’s party claims the idea was its own. Either way, French families begging for relief at the checkout are getting handed a bill instead.
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