A 14-year-old with a shattered jaw and a 15-year-old who lost a hand are among the students who say police weapons injured them during demonstrations that began at a Créteil high school over staff shortages. On Thursday, October 22, the French government responded to the protests with bans, curfews and a promise to put more officers on the streets.
President Emmanuel Macron said authorities would ban protests by groups he called “illegitimate” and could reroute approved union marches to protect businesses. “The priority is a return to calm,” he said. He added that he would chair a defence council on Friday to decide “the next steps” for nationwide demonstrations planned for Saturday and afterward.
The Crackdown
Paris police banned a student protest planned for Thursday and barred demonstrations until 8 p.m. in key parts of the city, including areas near the Élysée Palace, both houses of parliament and the main train stations. A Saturday march can go ahead in the east of the capital, starting at Bastille, but can’t enter the centre. Lyon has banned every protest for Saturday. Grenoble, Rouen, Le Havre and Toulon barred demonstrations in their city centres. Partial curfews restricting young people’s movement were in place in Marseille, Bordeaux, Nice, Lyon, Lille and other towns.
Macron said the government wouldn’t declare a state of emergency. “The general recommendation is that there should be no demonstrations,” he said. Prefects would offer union organisations alternative routes, while authorities would ban others “wherever possible.”
Civil Society Pushes Back
Coppelia Moreau, a Paris student leader, said: “The authorities are trying to make a distinction between ‘good’ and ‘bad’ protesters. What we are seeing is a government that doesn’t want any demonstrations at all. That goes against the right to demonstrate.” Lawyers have asked a court to block the student-protest ban. The Yellow Vest movement and unions organising cost-of-living rallies also said they opposed the order. Benjamin Ball, who runs an online map of planned demonstration sites, said of the Saturday restrictions: “We won’t sign off on it.”
The CGT, one of France’s largest unions, backed the protests and called for lower prices and higher pensions and wages. Union representatives met Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu on Wednesday, but said the meeting produced no concrete proposals. They’ve now turned to another day of action on Nov. 5.
What Sparked It
More than half a million people marched across France on Saturday, Oct. 17, over rising living costs and school conditions. The movement began in September in Créteil, where students pointed to underfunded schools, dilapidated buildings and too few staff, particularly in lower-income neighbourhoods. French media showed videos of rats, collapsed ceilings, leaks and broken furniture. Damage or attacks on staff forced hundreds of schools to close. Students also said classrooms were too hot in summer and too cold in winter, and called the university entrance system complex and unfair. The latest PISA report showed reading comprehension and maths scores had plunged.
Most marches stayed peaceful. Riots and looting accompanied them, though. At least 2,500 people have been arrested, Justice Minister Gerald Darmanin said; 174 had been jailed and more than 900 were being prosecuted. In Lyon, looters hit 200 to 300 shops and set fire to the tourism office, which Mayor Grégory Doucet called “a tragedy.” Limoges city hall’s clock tower and roof caught fire; police arrested a 66-year-old man over the arson. In Marseille, protesters stormed the town hall.
Macron blamed “organised ultra-left groups aiming to bring down the republic,” and vowed to “make examples if need be” of rioters. Lecornu promised a “massive” police deployment, while Interior Minister Jean-Didier Berger said it would be 20% higher than last weekend. Some officers told French media they hadn’t been trained to handle large crowds, and the government acknowledged police had lost control. Interior minister Laurent Nuñez offered to resign; Macron rejected his offer. Nuñez said his teams had forecast 200,000 demonstrators, far below the 550,000 who turned out.
Politics and Markets
With presidential elections scheduled for April 18 and May 1 next year, the unrest has already become a campaign issue. Marine Le Pen, whom voter surveys place as frontrunner, accused the government of being too soft and called for broader police powers. Jean-Luc Mélenchon blamed “non-stop brutal repression” and proposed lowering the voting age to 16 and scrapping selective university admissions. Former Prime Minister Edouard Philippe condemned those who “break things, burn things or assault people.” Bloomberg reported that the premium on French 10-year bonds over German bonds had surged 19 basis points to 1.78 percentage points, the highest since late 2011.
Paris shopkeepers are deciding whether to close Saturday. The police chief recommended that they hire private security guards and check alarm systems.
A European Pattern
France isn’t alone in facing unrest. ACLED recorded more than 3,600 demonstrations in Europe in the first 19 days of October; more than half took place in France, as did 90% of those classified as riots. Milan saw clashes at a march against wars and rising living costs, with about 50 demonstrators detained. Truckers blocked roads in southern Italy over fuel prices; Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni vowed a security decree and diesel support for farmers and fishermen. Thousands of Greek students and teachers demanded more education funding and safe school buildings, some carrying banners in French. Spain faces its first general strike in 15 years on Nov. 11. ING’s Carsten Brzeski said: “There is an issue that is now voiced more loudly in France, but it is very similar to the situation in other European countries.” Experts warned energy prices would likely rise over the winter.
Why This Matters: The same week France banned marches, its students described crumbling classrooms and young people maimed by police weapons. Bans can’t fix leaking ceilings or stagnant wages. Violence and arson deserve prosecution, and the government says that’s what it’s doing. But the grievances behind the marches—underfunded schools and squeezed household budgets—are shared from Athens to Madrid to Milan, suggesting national crackdowns alone won’t settle them. With energy prices expected to rise this winter, pressure on households will grow. The test for Paris and EU institutions is whether public investment in schools and living standards gets as much urgency as public order.
- france
- protests
- emmanuel macron
- protest bans
- yellow vest movement
- cost of living
- student protests
- police crackdown