France's Interior Ministry said hundreds of protests on October 24 drew 410,000 people nationwide. A movement that began with high school students has grown into a protest over living costs and inequality joined by unions and former ‘Yellow Vests’, and Paris police used tear gas and water cannon.
According to Taiwan's Liberty Times, Al Jazeera and India's ANI, hundreds of demonstrations took place across France on October 24 local time, with an official count of 410,000 participants, 110,000 of them in Paris. The CGT union confederation said both national and Paris figures were nearly double the official numbers, so the tallies differ.
광고 문의 · 300×250From school blockades to a cost-of-living revolt
Al Jazeera reported that the protests began in mid-September when high school students blockaded schools over dilapidated buildings, teacher shortages and an unfair university admissions system. They have spread into anger over rising living costs, inequality and President Emmanuel Macron's record, with unions, university students and former ‘Yellow Vests’ joining. Some protesters even demanded Macron's resignation.
On the 23rd Macron met student representatives for the first time, promising more teachers and a deep overhaul of the Parcoursup admissions system. Student representatives said they would keep mobilizing until the government takes concrete action, so tension did not ease. Some reports said Macron convened a defense council, but Al Jazeera's account does not confirm this.
Scale varied by place. ANI reported local authority estimates of 26,000 in Toulouse and 11,000 in Orléans by noon. Figures for Lyon differed widely by outlet, from 150 to nearly 10,000, and the report did not reconcile them.
Clashes in Paris, arrests and the political calendar
The Paris march set off from Porte d'Italie after the government banned the Bastille-to-Nation route and allowed only a south-eastern edge route, angering protesters. At night police used tear gas and water cannon, and authorities said about 500 ‘rioters’ clashed with officers. Shops in central Paris closed or covered windows, 24 metro stations shut at police request, and the Louvre and Musée d'Orsay closed.
More than 70,000 officers were deployed nationwide. Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez described an ‘extremely elevated level of violence’, and Al Jazeera and France 24 reported nearly 1,000 arrests nationwide that day. ANI's midday figure of 135 reflects an earlier time. Last Saturday's protests on the 17th saw looting and vandalism, with more than 2,000 people taken into custody.
The protests come about six months before the presidential election. Macron is barred from a third term and leaves office in 2027, and far-right leader Marine Le Pen is cited as the polling frontrunner. Organizers have announced another protest for next Saturday, but how the government will answer their demands has not been confirmed.
