Interior Ministry Counts 980 Detentions After Nighttime Clashes Follow 410,000 March
Police deployed 70,000 officers to contain crowds after President Macron’s decree limited approved protests to those led by recognized unions.
By David Almasi ·
Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez reported that nearly 1,000 people were detained in France on Saturday evening, a figure he said would continue to rise. Two individuals sustained serious injuries during the unrest, one in Toulouse and the other in Clermont-Ferrand.
The Interior Ministry estimated that 410,000 participants took to the streets, while trade unions placed the turnout at approximately 800,000. Authorities deployed 70,000 police officers across the country and imposed local restrictions in several cities. This deployment aimed to prevent the demonstrations from replicating the disorder seen the previous week, when officers were outnumbered and hundreds of businesses suffered damage.
President Emmanuel Macron issued a decree earlier in the week stating that only demonstrations organized by recognized trade unions would be permitted. This move followed fast-track court hearings that resulted in the jailing of hundreds of individuals charged with vandalism, arson, and looting.
Violence erupted in the evening after largely peaceful daytime marches. In Paris, police used tear gas and water cannon to disperse crowds near Porte de Vincennes. An elite unit typically assigned to counter-terrorism operations joined the response. Protesters constructed makeshift barricades and threw projectiles, while officers used batons against masked youths smashing the windows of a car dealership. Nuñez stated that several thousand radical activists gathered at the rear of the march, including around 500 identified rioters.
In Marseille, demonstrators set fire to rubbish bins and used metal sheets to block streets. In Lyon, police fired tear gas into a crowd that had gathered in an area declared off-limits by the local prefecture. A protester in Lyon, part of a group of about 150 secondary school and university students, said visibility in the street was poor due to the gas.
Demonstrators expressed frustration over the cost of living and school conditions. A 26-year-old Paris resident named Zelie told the BBC that people are suffering. Two masked teenagers described their generation as feeling abandoned by the government. One teenager acknowledged that looting was not ideal but cited poverty and police violence as contributing factors. In Orléans, 13,000 people rallied peacefully against the National Rally party.
Unrest extended beyond French borders. Riot police in Tirana, Albania, fired tear gas at anti-government demonstrators. Clashes were also reported in Brussels. In Milan, hundreds of soldiers and police prevented protesters from gathering after fears of a repeat of the previous week's violence. Last weekend saw approximately 550,000 demonstrators and more than 2,500 arrests. The Chambers of Commerce and Industry estimated business damage in the hundreds of millions of euros, while about 1,000 police officers were injured.
Presidential elections are scheduled for six months from now. Leading contenders have already blamed Macron and his ministers for the ongoing social tensions.
