French authorities are deploying 70,000 police officers nationwide as they prepare for a third consecutive weekend of intense anti-government protests beginning Saturday.
The demonstrations, fueled by rising living costs and opposition to President Emmanuel Macron’s government, have included looting and property damage, officials said, prompting the major law enforcement mobilization.
“Everyone is on deck to ensure an extremely firm response to any trouble,” Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said at a news conference earlier this week.
A French gendarme stands amid clouds of tear gas during a demonstration over the cost of living, public services and economic policies on Oct. 24, 2026, in Nantes, France. The protest was part of nationwide demonstrations involving labor unions, students and former Yellow Vest protesters. (Guillaume Saligot/AFP via Getty Images)
With the expected protests falling on Halloween, authorities face an added challenge: Some demonstrators may wear masks to conceal their identities.
The Interior Ministry has identified and acknowledged at least 150 planned gatherings across France.
France’s top administrative court has prohibited one planned march between Paris’s iconic Republique and Bastille squares. Organizers were instead directed to a route along boulevards on the city’s eastern edge, away from major shopping areas.
The French Chamber of Commerce estimates that looting and property damage have cost retailers more than $1 billion. Broader calculations that include lost sales put the potential losses at twice that amount.
Boarded up stores, including Christian Dior, Parfums de Marly and Ex Nihilo, on Rue Saint-Honore following looting in central Paris, France, on Wednesday, Oct. 21, 2026. Luxury boutiques in Paris’s shopping districts have been damaged after rioting, with some boarding up windows and doors and increasing security measures. (Benjamin Girette/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Several of Paris’s celebrated luxury retailers, including Hermes and Louis Vuitton, have been targeted. Protective wooden boards now cover scores of storefronts along the capital’s best-known shopping avenues.
Amid the unrest, the French government is drafting legislation that would hold rioters responsible for property damage and require them to pay as much as €10,000, or about $11,000.
The movement began with young people protesting school conditions and calling for education reforms before rapidly expanding to include broader social concerns, such as financial insecurity and rising fuel and borrowing costs.
Although the government has promised education reforms and measures to lower fuel costs, protesters say those commitments have not addressed their concerns.
French gendarmerie officers on the day of a demonstration organised by labour unions as part of nationwide protests called by the “Yellow Vests” movement joined by French high school and university students against the cost of living and rising fuel prices, in Paris, France, October 31, 2026. (REUTERS/Pedro Nunes)
“When I was little, I was told young people were the future,” 15-year-old high school student Aaron Berthier de Grandry, who plans to protest over the weekend, told Reuters.
“Well, if we, as the future of France, lack resources, that means France will end up collapsing,” de Grandry added.
The U.S. Embassy in France has urged travelers to avoid locations where large crowds and demonstrations are expected.