Protesters and members of the French trade union General Confederation of Labour (CGT) attend a rally in Valenciennes, northern France on October 31, 2026, part of nationwide demonstrations over the rising cost of living and inequality organised by Yellow Vest movement, labour unions and high school and university students.
| Photo Credit: AFP
France prepared on Saturday (October 31, 2026) for a third consecutive weekend of protests over living costs and education, deploying 70,000 police and gendarmes and rerouting the Paris march to the capital’s edge as youth-led demonstrations spread across Europe.
Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez warned of a “very high risk” of disorder, especially after dark on Halloween.
Paris police banned union and “yellow vest” marches through the city centre, ordering demonstrations to follow a single route along the capital’s outer boulevards, from Porte de Bagnolet to Porte de Charenton. Unions and student groups challenged the restrictions in court, but lost.
President Emmanuel Macron said on Monday (October 26, 2026) that marches would stay out of city centres to protect shops.
Police also barred entry to Place de la Republique and Les Halles, both hit by rioting and looting on October 17, from 11 p.m. to 6 a.m. on Saturday (October 31, 2026) and Sunday (November 1, 2026).
Unaccompanied minors face a separate 9 p.m. curfew around the Champs-Elysees. A Paris court on Wednesday (October 28, 2026) suspended an earlier curfew on minors as a serious and illegal infringement of freedom of movement.
The movement began with high school students protesting school conditions and broadened into anger over living costs.
Authorities counted about 550,000 protesters nationwide on October 17, when rioters looted hundreds of shops, and 410,000 last Saturday (October 31, 2026), when rallies were largely peaceful but police made more than 1,300 arrests.
In Germany, a youth initiative called “Gen Z regelt” — roughly “Gen Z’s got this” — urged protests in some 30 cities “for education, health, climate protection and an affordable life,” and against any return of military conscription. Organisers said more than 140,000 people had signed up online.
Berlin police expected about 10,000 people at the Brandenburg Gate. Some shops on the Kurfuerstendamm boulevard boarded up their windows, although authorities said they were unaware of specific threats of violence. Protests were expected to begin in the early afternoon.
In Barcelona, Spain, Catalan police planned to activate their highest-level alert after an anonymous TikTok network called Blocus urged new gatherings. Rioting there last Saturday (October 24, 2026) led to about 130 arrests, mostly of minors.
Italian police were on alert after clashes in Milan, Turin and Bologna, and calls to protest circulated on TikTok in Belgium, the Netherlands, Austria, Switzerland and Portugal.
Published – October 31, 2026 06:08 pm IST
