![\"French](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/frances-president-emmanuel-macron-F6FDGEMALZDNTDEO2UOETV3HNI.jpg\")
<\/p>\nClashes have erupted in Paris as a mass march drew to a close, with more than 400,000 people rallying across France over school funding and soaring living costs in a fresh challenge to Emmanuel Macron\u2019s government.<\/p>\n
The Paris march began peacefully, a week after widespread rioting and looting during protests across the country. <\/p>\n
Near its endpoint at Porte de Vincennes, some protesters threw projectiles while police fired volleys of tear gas and used water cannons to disperse people. The Interior Ministry put nationwide turnout at 410,000, while the CGT union estimated nearly 800,000. <\/p>\n
The ministry\u2019s estimate included 110,000 in Paris, where authorities had confined the march to the city\u2019s southeastern edge, away from the centre.<\/p>\n
Elsewhere in France, police used tear gas in Lyon, Clermont-Ferrand and Strasbourg and water cannons in Nice and Nantes, French media reported. <\/p>\n
In Marseille, officers fired tear gas during clashes with several dozen people near the march\u2019s endpoint.<\/p>\n
The demonstrations began over education concerns but have expanded to wider frustrations over the cost of living and government policy.\u00a0 (Source: 1News)<\/p>\n
The Paris prosecutor\u2019s office said 64 people had been arrested in connection with Saturday\u2019s demonstration and 40 placed in police custody. <\/p>\n
Those arrested included six minors. <\/p>\n
Most arrests concerned suspected weapons offences or participation in a group preparing violence or property damage, the office said.<\/p>\n
The unrest is testing Macron’s authority in the final months of his presidency before voters choose his successor in May. <\/p>\n
The stakes are high: the far-right National Rally has accused his government of failing to protect the public and urged people to channel their anger into votes for them.<\/p>\n
Interior Minister Laurent Nu\u00f1ez had announced a nationwide deployment of up to 70,000 officers, backed by helicopters, armoured vehicles and water cannons.<\/p>\n
Trade unions led the procession, followed by protesters in raincoats carrying flags and handmade placards.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
French President Emmanuel Macron. (Source: Associated Press)<\/p>\n
Camille Chesnier, 27, said she had been unable to find work despite having an engineering degree and a master\u2019s degree.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are enormous numbers of people in the same situation as me but who aren\u2019t privileged and who find themselves living on the streets and in squats and, frankly, it\u2019s very tough,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
A small protest became a national movement<\/p>\n
What began last month as a protest over staff shortages at one high school southeast of Paris has spread nationwide, drawing students demanding better schools and workers seeking higher wages and pensions.<\/p>\n
In Paris, B\u00e9n\u00e9dicte Pittion, a 46-year-old teacher, marched through steady rain with her 16-year-old daughter, Garance, a high school student. Both had supported the movement from the start, but this was their first protest together.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe young people who have been demonstrating have not been heard, and as a parent and as a teacher, I stand with them,\u201d Pittion said.<\/p>\n
Garance said she had been \u201creally scared\u201d to attend after seeing images of last weekend\u2019s violence, but argued that staying away would hand the government a victory.<\/p>\n
Public middle and high schools lost 15.4 million teaching hours in the 2024-25 school year because absent teachers were not replaced, according to Education Ministry figures. That amounted to 7.5% of scheduled teaching time.<\/p>\n
Macron met high school representatives Friday. <\/p>\n
They said he had promised to overhaul university admissions, but called for protests to continue until concrete measures are announced.<\/p>\n
Organisers from the \u201cyellow vest\u201d protest movement called for another day of rallies on October 31 to defend the right to demonstrate.<\/p>\n
Some protests were banned<\/p>\n
Soumaya Abed, a 58-year-old nurse wearing a red CGT union vest, said she had been joining protests for more than 30 years, but had never seen one start at Porte d\u2019Italie, on the capital’s outskirts.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey are using what happened last week as an excuse to quiet protesters,\u201d she said. \u201cBut it won\u2019t stop the movement. It won\u2019t stop students from demanding better conditions in schools.\u201d<\/p>\n
In Marseille, police put attendance at 17,000, while the CGT union estimated 100,000. In the southwestern city of Toulouse, 26,500 people joined the protests, according to authorities. Authorities had banned rallies in cities including Lyon, Nice and Montpellier.<\/p>\n
Trade unions have criticised the bans, calling them violations of freedom of expression, which is protected by the constitution.<\/p>\n
Thousands also marched in Orl\u00e9ans, south of Paris, in a separate peaceful protest against the far right as Marine Le Pen\u2019s National Rally held a two-day congress in the city.<\/p>\n
Macron, a centrist, has entered the crisis in the final stretches of his term with his popularity at its lowest since he took office in 2017. He has said that the measures are needed to protect city centres, businesses and public buildings.<\/p>\n
Nu\u00f1ez acknowledged that police had lost control in some cities during last weekend\u2019s unrest, when more than half a million people took to the streets, and some 3000 shops across France were damaged or looted amid street violence not seen in years.<\/p>\n
He offered to resign, but Macron refused the offer.<\/p>\n
H2 Shops board up and museums close<\/p>\n
Gendarmes stood guard Saturday beneath the Arc de Triomphe, and shopkeepers boarded up storefronts across Paris. Near the Saint-Lazare train station Saturday, Akram Ahmed, a 34-year-old contractor, was boarding up an optician\u2019s shop.<\/p>\n
\u201cI got the call last night,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe owner seemed desperate. He said I was saving his life.\u201d<\/p>\n
Major museums, including the Louvre, Orsay Museum, Picasso Museum and Grand Palais \u2014 where a major C\u00e9zanne exhibit is on display \u2014 were shuttered Saturday.<\/p>\n
Art Basel, one of the world\u2019s most prestigious contemporary art fairs, opened to the public Friday, but only for the day, with the threat of unrest prompting organisers to cancel the weekend program.<\/p>\n
Students and workers are angry<\/p>\n
Student groups want 250,000 more places in higher education and an end to selection through Parcoursup, the national admissions system. Their joint 10-point plan also calls for more teachers and repairs to schools and universities.<\/p>\n
They are also seeking help with everyday costs: an extra 200 euros (NZ$390) a month in student grants and a rent freeze in public student housing.<\/p>\n
Energy prices in France were 21.3% higher in September than a year earlier, helping drive overall inflation to 3.1%, according to the national statistics agency, INSEE.<\/p>\n
Paris protester Louis Ledoux-Xatard voiced frustration over inequality.<\/p>\n
\u201cLooking at countries like the United States, we don\u2019t want to end up like them, where part of the population has everything and the others have nothing,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI never imagined that I\u2019d be taking to the streets so much before my thirties.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Clashes have erupted in Paris as a mass march drew to a close, with more than 400,000 people…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":640404,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[42,43,40,38,41,39,1745],"class_list":["post-640403","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories","tag-uk-europe"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/640403","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=640403"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/640403\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/640404"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=640403"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=640403"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=640403"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}