Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez told reporters on Thursday, October 29, that security measures introduced last week — including armored vehicles and water cannon — will be strengthened, and that demonstrations will be permitted but "not in city centres, where there is a risk of public disorder." He pointed to calls circulating for people to gather in public places in various towns starting at 8 p.m. on Saturday, and said police would respond "very firmly, without allowing any deviations."
"From early evening until late at night, the risk of urban violence is very high," Nuñez said, according to BFM TV. He said the Labour Party, radical left organizations and radicalized Yellow Vest members were spreading the gathering calls, and he instructed regional prefects and the head of the Paris police to organize a "robust" security arrangement.
The warning comes after nationwide protests last Saturday drew about 410,000 people according to the interior ministry — unions put the figure at roughly double — with 1,435 arrests nationwide. The Yellow Vest movement has announced a "third act" for Halloween, calling for demonstrations outside the National Assembly and every town hall in the country, while student unions have also called for new marches.
President Emmanuel Macron has described the violence at the margins of the protests as "political and seditious acts by ultra-left groups whose aim is to bring down the Republic," and said those who looted will have to pay for the damage. The protests began in late September with high-school students blockading schools over teacher shortages and overcrowded classrooms, and have since widened into a broader movement over the cost of living and public services.
Student leaders have already vowed to keep marching and to resume school blockades when classes return on Monday, November 2, and unions have called a general mobilization for November 5. Saturday's Halloween deployment will be the first test of whether the government's show of force — and Nuñez's unusually blunt warning — can keep the streets calmer than the weekend before.
Sources: Al Jazeera, October 29-30, 2026; OpIndia, October 30, 2026, reporting BFM TV and Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez's October 29 news conference; Outlook India, October 26, 2026.