{"id":228612,"date":"2026-10-24T22:50:06","date_gmt":"2026-10-24T22:50:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/hundreds-of-thousands-march-across-france-in-protests-over-schools-and-policing-the-guardian\/"},"modified":"2026-10-24T22:50:06","modified_gmt":"2026-10-24T22:50:06","slug":"hundreds-of-thousands-march-across-france-in-protests-over-schools-and-policing-the-guardian","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/hundreds-of-thousands-march-across-france-in-protests-over-schools-and-policing-the-guardian\/","title":{"rendered":"Hundreds of thousands march across France in protests over schools and policing – The Guardian"},"content":{"rendered":"

Almost 1,000 arrested as police charge crowd in Paris and teargas used to stop protesters reaching other city centres
Hundreds of thousands marched in cities across France on Saturday in largely peaceful protests to support schoolchildren\u2019s demands<\/a> for more teachers and repairs to dilapidated buildings, as Emmanuel Macron faces a social and political crisis in his final months as president.
In Paris, at least 110,000 people marched along the eastern edge of the city, according to government estimates. They supported high schoolers but also complained of the high cost of living and the government\u2019s heavy policing, saying riot police had been sent to target school protesters over the past month, instead of the government offering political solutions.
The mood in Paris on Saturday afternoon was peaceful and lighthearted, with brass bands playing and children and grandchildren present. Some people carried banners critical of the government\u2019s policing, saying: \u201cOppression breeds rebellion\u201d and \u201cThe right to protest\u201d.
But at the end of the Paris demonstration, at Porte de Vincennes on the city\u2019s eastern edge, different groups of masked men dressed in black emerged who had not appeared to have taken part in the peaceful march. Some groups of masked men threw glass bottles and stones at police, who responded with teargas, water cannon and stun grenades. A bin was set alight and fireworks were set off towards police.
Riot police also charged a larger crowd of protesters at the end of the Paris march, using batons against them.
Police fired teargas to prevent protesters in Lyon, Lille, Montpellier, Nantes and Toulouse from reaching city centres. In Marseille, some bin fires were lit amid clashes with police. At least two people were seriously injured, one in Clermont-Ferrand and another in Toulouse, who reportedly had fingers blown off.
The government estimated that at least 400,000 people had marched across France<\/a>. Trade unions estimated the number at double that. The interior ministry said there had been almost 1,000 arrests.
Laurent Nu\u00f1ez, the interior minister, said that at various street marches across France there were what he called \u201chigh-risk groups\u201d who \u201cbroke away from the main body and sought to commit acts of violence\u201d.
More than 70,000 police were on the streets of French cities, with shops boarded up and many museums closed. The government had feared a repeat of last Saturday, when, despite peaceful protests taking place, France saw one of the most violent days of unrest<\/a> in years, with public buildings burned, hundreds of shops destroyed and looted<\/a> and at least 2,700 people arrested in cities across the country.
At Saturday\u2019s protests, there was widespread anger at Macron for banning non-union demonstrations<\/a> that his government deemed \u201cillegitimate\u201d<\/a> and for keeping all protesters away from city centres.
At the Paris march, Nad\u00e8ge, a 43-year-old communications worker, said she had been teargassed last weekend at a peaceful demonstration. \u201cI\u2019m out again peacefully today to support everyone who is brave enough to demonstrate. It does take courage. People are afraid now. We have to keep our rights alive \u2026 In France, it\u2019s our legal right to protest in the street and I\u2019m here to defend that.\u201d
A 21-year-old student from a Paris science faculty that is now blockaded by demonstrators said: \u201cWe feel in France that we are increasingly living in an authoritarian regime that is trying to stop our democratic right to protest in the street.\u201d
The radical left presidential candidate, Jean-Luc M\u00e9lenchon, who took part in the Paris rally, said Macron must \u201cgive in\u201d and address France\u2019s social malaise or face repeated protests. \u201cGiven the current situation, I think he will come to understand that this will happen again every week,\u201d M\u00e9lenchon said.
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The government has been facing a crisis since the start of high school <\/a>demonstrations in mid-September, when children aged between 15 and 18 began protesting against staff shortages at their schools, leaking and crumbling buildings, and a lack of chairs in overcrowded classrooms. It grew into the biggest youth movement in years, with trade unions, teachers and parents joining. Police investigations are under way after some children and protesters were maimed and injured<\/a> by explosive police weaponry.
At Saturday\u2019s march there were some people dressed in yellow vests who had taken part in the gilets <\/a><\/em>jaunes<\/a><\/em> <\/em>anti-government protests of 2018 and 2019. Standing amid demonstrators, J\u00e9r\u00f4me Rodrigues, a key figure from the gilets <\/em>jaunes<\/em> protest, said: \u201cToday the government is afraid; that is why they are pushing demonstrators to the edge of the city, away from places of power. It\u2019s not police shields that will provide an answer to French people struggling and unable to make ends meet.\u201d He said it was likely that demonstrations would continue.
Pierre, 60, a retired banking consultant, said he was demonstrating in support of school students. \u201cI have an eight-year-old granddaughter. I want her to have a brighter future than the sombre times we are facing today. There is a complete refusal by the government to listen to people\u2019s demands.\u201d
Jesse, 40, a charity worker from the north of Paris, carrying a sign saying \u201cFree Hugs\u201d, said: \u201cI\u2019m so angry. I\u2019m here to support schoolchildren\u2019s demands for better conditions. I\u2019m so proud of them, and we have to stand together.\u201d
She said: \u201cI know I\u2019m not going to war by coming out to demonstrate peacefully. But at times it really does feel like a war \u2026 This is the first time I\u2019ve prepared so carefully for a peaceful march, wearing old clothes in case they are gassed or torn.\u201d
In Orl\u00e9ans, thousands shouting anti-fascist slogans marched against a congress held by Marine Le Pen\u2019s far-right anti-immigration National Rally party. Protesters criticised Le Pen, a frontrunner in next year\u2019s presidential election, as well as Macron, who steps down from power next year. \u201cMacron, resign. Le Pen in prison,\u201d the crowd shouted.<\/p>\n

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Almost 1,000 arrested as police charge crowd in Paris and teargas used to stop protesters reaching other city centresHundreds of thousands marched in cities across France on Saturday in largely peaceful protests to support schoolchildren\u2019s demands for more teachers and repairs to dilapidated buildings, as Emmanuel Macron faces a social and political crisis in his […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":228613,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-228612","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-world","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/228612","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=228612"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/228612\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/228613"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=228612"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=228612"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=228612"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}