France Deploys 70,000 Officers as Cost-of-Living Protests Spark Clashes
President Emmanuel Macron mobilized 70,000 security personnel to manage nationwide protests over living costs and education, resulting in hundreds of thousands of marchers and widespread clashes.
Nationwide protests over the rising cost of living and underfunded education systems drew between 410,000 and 800,000 participants across France on October 24, 2026. Emmanuel Macron authorized the deployment of 70,000 police and gendarmerie officers, supported by armored vehicles and drones, to prevent a repeat of the previous weekend's violence, which saw 3,000 shops looted and the Limoges town hall burned.
While many rallies remained peaceful, severe clashes erupted in Paris, Marseille, Lyon, and Bordeaux. In Paris, approximately 110,000 people marched under heavy surveillance after the police prefecture imposed a last-minute route change. Riot police used tear gas and water cannons to disperse crowds at Porte de Vincennes. Authorities reported 1,314 arrests nationwide and seized weapons including Molotov cocktails.
Concurrent with the unrest, Marine Le Pen launched her 2027 presidential campaign at a National Rally congress in Orléans, which drew thousands of counter-protesters. Macron, facing a fiscal crisis and low popularity in the final months of his term, met with student representatives to discuss overhauling university admissions. He attributed the violence to "ultraleft groups" and called for "utmost severity" against delinquency.
Political rivals have leveraged the instability; Marine Le Pen positioned herself as the candidate of authority, while Jean-Luc Mélenchon backed the demonstrators, claiming French democracy is in a bad state. Yellow Vest organizers have called for further mobilization on October 31, with trade unions planning a general mobilization for November 5.
