Nearly 1,000 arrested in French protests, interior minister says, as clashes follow largely peaceful marches

As of 3:40 p.m. ET, Saturday, Oct. 24, 2026

French police arrested nearly 1,000 people in nationwide protests on Saturday, and the number was likely to rise, Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez said, according to AFP.

Although marches over the cost of living "passed off well" in cities, "ultra-left" groups threw projectiles and aimed fireworks at police to provoke clashes, and officers were confronted with "an extremely elevated level of violence," Nuñez told journalists, AFP reported.

In Paris, where the main march was largely peaceful but clashes broke out as the crowd dispersed, "several thousand radical activists gathered at the rear of the march, including around 500 individuals identified as rioters," Nuñez said, according to AFP. The clashes in the capital lasted about two hours, he said.

Nuñez said Saturday's arrests compared with 385 recorded at the same point a week earlier, and that while some shops had been vandalized and looted, "the scale was far smaller" than last weekend, AFP reported. Authorities would remain "on high alert" through the night and into Sunday, he said.

Security deployment

France deployed about 70,000 police and gendarmes nationwide for the protests, Nuñez said before the marches, as the government tried to prevent a repeat of last weekend's violence on the fringes of cost-of-living demonstrations.

The forces included elite units usually used for counterterrorism and hostage rescues, Nuñez said Friday, according to The Guardian. He said the operation would also include water cannons, armored vehicles, mounted police, helicopters and drones.

"We are not talking about a peaceful, friendly demonstration," Nuñez told reporters after a meeting chaired by President Emmanuel Macron, The Guardian reported. "We are ready tomorrow to be extremely firm and not tolerate anything."

Museums closed

France's Culture Ministry announced Thursday evening that several Paris institutions would close for the day Saturday as a precaution, including the Louvre, the Musée d'Orsay, the Orangerie, the Picasso Museum and the Grand Palais, franceinfo reported. The Art Basel fair at the Grand Palais canceled its Saturday and Sunday sessions, according to franceinfo.

Marches limited

Before the protests, authorities in Paris approved a union march on a limited route, but refused requests from the UNEF student union and the yellow vest movement, The Guardian reported. The centers of Lyon and other large cities were off-limits to protesters, and Marseille allowed a single union march on an "exceptional basis," according to the paper.

Justice Minister Gérald Darmanin said 217 people had been jailed since last Saturday, The Guardian reported.

What is not known

The final arrest count had not been released when this was written.