Hundreds of thousands of demonstrators in France. Clashes in Paris

The demonstration along the Cours de Vincennes in Paris was completely dispersed following clashes between demonstrators and the police. The Paris police headquarters announced this to Bfmtv, stating that a gendarmerie helicopter had been deployed to support the work of officers on the ground and to locate any remaining groups of troublemakers. In the area, where more than 500 people had attacked the police in the late afternoon, the police intervened with water cannons and tear gas to disperse the crowd. The clashes began at around 5.30 pm, shortly after the march arrived at Porte de Vincennes, when some demonstrators threw objects at the police.

The French Minister of the Interior, Laurent Nuñez, announced that around a thousand people had been arrested in France during a day of demonstrations across the country. He added that ‘everything went smoothly’ during the marches, although the number of those arrested ‘will rise’. “At this very moment, on 17 October,” he emphasised, “we were at 385 arrests”, but “thanks to the intervention of the police, looting was prevented”. The minister added that “there were no direct attacks on public buildings”. Nuñez also stated that, “thanks to the intervention of the police”, there were no attacks on public buildings, unlike what had happened on 17 October. “These attacks were systematically thwarted,” said the minister, as quoted by BFM TV. On 17 October, several public buildings had been targeted, including Limoges Town Hall.

Nuñez did, however, emphasise that today’s events in France, with the new demonstrations against the high cost of living, ‘have nothing to do with last week. Although the figures are still provisional, he described the development of the situation as significant. “At the same time last week, more than 300 shops had been looted,” he explained. However, “the day is not yet over,” he pointed out. Nearly 1,000 people have been arrested today.

The minister also expressed his satisfaction that the marches had been able to go ahead, that the preventive security checks had gone well, and that the shopping centres on the outskirts of the cities – which had been identified as possible targets – had been protected.

In total, 410,000 people took to the streets in France – 110,000 of them in Paris – as part of a day of social mobilisation in support of purchasing power and the defence of public services. This was announced by the country’s Ministry of the Interior to Agence France-Presse. Turnout was slightly down on last week, when 550,000 people took to the streets.