More than 400,000 protest across France as Paris clashes erupt over school funding and living costs

The Paris march began peacefully, in steady rain, with trade unions at the head of the procession and protesters behind them in raincoats, carrying flags and handmade placards. It ended in tear gas. Near Porte de Vincennes, where authorities had confined the route to the city's southeastern edge and away from the centre, some demonstrators threw projectiles. Police answered with volleys of tear gas and water cannons to disperse the crowd.

The Interior Ministry put turnout across France at 410,000, including 110,000 in Paris. The CGT union estimated nearly 800,000. The two counts differ by almost a factor of two, and the gap is typical of how such marches are measured. Either way, the protests are a fresh challenge to Emmanuel Macron's government. Elsewhere, French media reported tear gas in Lyon, Clermont-Ferrand and Strasbourg and water cannons in Nice and Nantes. In Marseille, officers fired tear gas during clashes with several dozen people near the endpoint. Police put attendance there at 17,000, while the CGT said 100,000. Authorities counted 26,500 marchers in Toulouse. Rallies were banned in cities including Lyon, Nice and Montpellier, and unions criticised the bans as violations of the constitutionally protected freedom of expression.

The Paris prosecutor's office said 64 people were arrested in connection with Saturday's demonstration and 40 were placed in police custody. Six of those arrested were minors. Most arrests involved suspected weapons offences or taking part in a group preparing violence or property damage.

The backdrop is last weekend's unrest. More than half a million people took to the streets, and some 3,000 shops across France were damaged or looted in street violence not seen in years. Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez acknowledged that police lost control in some cities. He offered to resign, and Macron refused. For this weekend Nuñez announced a deployment of up to 70,000 officers, backed by helicopters, armoured vehicles and water cannons. Gendarmes stood beneath the Arc de Triomphe, and shopkeepers boarded up storefronts. Near Saint-Lazare station, contractor Akram Ahmed, 34, was boarding up an optician's shop after a call the night before. The owner, he said, seemed desperate and told him he was saving his life. The Louvre, Orsay Museum, Picasso Museum and Grand Palais, which has a major Cézanne exhibit, were closed. Art Basel opened Friday for a single day, and organisers cancelled the weekend program.

The movement began last month as a protest over staff shortages at one high school southeast of Paris. It has since spread nationwide, drawing students who want better schools and workers seeking higher wages and pensions. Education Ministry figures show public middle and high schools lost 15.4 million teaching hours in 2024-25 because absent teachers were not replaced, or 7.5% of scheduled time. Student groups have a joint 10-point plan: 250,000 more higher-education places, an end to selection through the Parcoursup admissions system, more teachers, and repairs to schools and universities. They also want an extra 200 euros (NZ$390) a month in student grants and a rent freeze in public student housing. INSEE reported energy prices 21.3% higher in September than a year earlier, helping push inflation to 3.1%.

Individual marchers gave the numbers a face. Camille Chesnier, 27, said she cannot find work despite an engineering degree and a master's. Bénédicte Pittion, a 46-year-old teacher, marched with her 16-year-old daughter Garance, their first protest together. Garance said she was really scared after seeing images of last weekend's violence, but felt that staying home would hand the government a victory. Soumaya Abed, a 58-year-old nurse in a red CGT vest, said that in more than 30 years of protesting she had never seen one start at Porte d'Italie, on the capital's outskirts, and accused authorities of using last week as an excuse to quiet protesters. Louis Ledoux-Xatard said he never imagined he would be on the streets so much before turning thirty.

Macron met high school representatives on Friday. They said he promised to overhaul university admissions but urged protests to continue until concrete measures are announced. Organisers from the yellow vest movement have called for more rallies on October 31 to defend the right to demonstrate. Macron, a centrist, is in the last months of his presidency, with popularity at its lowest since 2017, ahead of a May vote for his successor. The far-right National Rally has accused his government of failing to protect the public and urged people to turn their anger into votes. Its two-day congress in Orléans drew thousands to a separate, peaceful counter-march. The next test comes October 31.