Wire reporting: (AP, via ABC News), (Reuters, via The National)

Hundreds of thousands of people marched across France on Saturday, Oct. 31, 2026, in a third consecutive weekend of protests over living costs and school conditions, with French authorities and student unions offering different crowd counts and with isolated clashes reported as some rallies ended^1,3,4.

The French interior ministry put nationwide turnout at 320,000, including 70,000 in Paris, according to ABC News carrying The Associated Press, Politico Europe, and The National, which carried Reuters^1,3,4. Politico Europe said student unions put the figure at half a million, including 200,000 in Paris³. ABC News and The National, citing the ministry, said that was below about 410,000 the previous Saturday and about 550,000 on Oct. 17^1,4.

France deployed about 70,000 police and gendarmes, Politico Europe and ABC News, carrying AP, reported^1,3. Paris marches were kept to the capital's edge rather than the center^1,4. The National said France's top administrative court upheld a ban on a Nation-to-Bastille route and that authorities authorized boulevards on the eastern edge instead⁴.

The rallies began with high-school students over neglected buildings, teacher shortages and university admissions, then drew unions and others over living costs, according to the AP dispatch on ABC News and Reuters copy on The National^1,4. Politico Europe said the marches came about six months before France's presidential election; The National said April's presidential vote^3,4.

French authorities described the situation nationwide as generally calm in the early afternoon, Politico Europe reported³. The same account said arrests were significantly lower than in previous demonstrations, though tensions and clashes emerged in Marseille, Paris and Lyon as marches dispersed³.

The National said riot police moved against small groups at the end of the Paris march, that tear gas was used in Lyon and Toulouse, and that there were tensions after unauthorized protests in Marseille⁴. The interior ministry said, according to that report, that people intent on damage had tried to break away from marches in Bordeaux, Toulouse, Lyon and Marseille and were stopped⁴. A public SCMP summary said some demonstrators threw stones and a Molotov cocktail at police; the full SCMP article could not be read².

Many protesters wore Halloween costumes despite Interior Minister Laurent Nunez warning that face coverings could bring 150-euro fines, Politico Europe reported³.

Related youth protests were reported in other European cities. Politico Europe said Rome, Milan, Berlin and Frankfurt saw demonstrations, that a German youth initiative called Gen Z regelt organized marches in more than 30 cities, and that Italian police carried out 60 searches in 23 cities targeting people suspected of inciting violence, according to ANSA³. ABC News, carrying AP, also described gatherings in Berlin and related youth-led demonstrations in Germany and Italy¹.

What remains unclear includes complete arrest and injury totals for Saturday night, whether further Halloween-evening gatherings produced wider unrest, and how the government will answer education and living-cost demands^3,4.