France is bracing for another weekend of mass protests on Saturday, October 31, with the government deploying around 70,000 police nationwide — roughly 10,000 more than last weekend — as a student revolt that began over crumbling schools has snowballed into a nationwide challenge to President Emmanuel Macron's government, six months before a presidential election.
Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said elite units, mounted police, helicopters, drones, armoured vehicles and water cannon will be on the streets, warning that authorities will be "uncompromising with rioters, looters and all those who commit acts of violence."
From school gates to half a million in the streets
What began a month ago as high-school protests in suburban Paris — over buildings in disrepair, teacher shortages, overcrowded classrooms and the Parcoursup university selection system — has grown far beyond students. More than half a million people took to the streets on October 17, and by October 24 the movement had drawn in teachers, parents, trade unions, firefighters and healthcare workers protesting the rising cost of living.
The protests have been marred by violence and looting. President Macron on Wednesday urged that the looting and vandalism seen on October 17 "never" be repeated, and officials have conceded security and intelligence lapses. Curfews imposed in sensitive areas this past week remain in force, Paris has extended its nighttime curfew until Monday, and Lyon has banned gatherings in central areas with curfews and public transport restrictions for Saturday. Marseille, which had also banned protests, said on Friday it would allow one union-organised march on an "exceptional basis."
Only union marches authorised — and a "turning point" killing
Macron announced on Thursday that only union demonstrations would be authorised this weekend, a move that drew harsh criticism from student groups whose demonstrations started the wave. Student leaders say the government's education package does not go far enough: Macron met with high-school students for the first time on Friday, but Nathanael Combary, president of the campaign group High School Renewal, said students were "not satisfied" and urged pupils to "continue to mobilise" ahead of talks with the prime minister on Monday.
The unrest has also been inflamed by a killing in Trappes, near Paris, on October 23, in which a Black martial arts amateur, Pengo Bossio Wang, was shot dead and a 12-year-old girl was critically injured. Macron called the attack a "turning point" in the history of the Republic and has accused Marine Le Pen's far-right National Rally of fuelling racism, an accusation the party rejects. Politicians and commentators on the right had blamed earlier rioting and looting on immigration, without evidence, while far-right activists seeking confrontations with protesters were spotted across more than a dozen French cities last week, according to authorities.
With the presidential election six months away, Saturday's turnout — and how the 70,000-strong police deployment handles it — will be read as a measure of how far a school protest has become a national crisis.