France was preparing Saturday for a third straight weekend of protests over the cost of living and education, deploying 70,000 police officers and gendarmes. Authorities also moved a planned Paris march to the edge of the capital as youth-led demonstrations spread across Europe.
Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez warned of a “very high risk” of disorder, particularly after nightfall on Halloween.
Paris police on Friday prohibited union and yellow vest marches from passing through the city center, directing demonstrators onto a single route along the capital’s outer boulevards, from Porte de Bagnolet to Porte de Charenton. Unions and student organizations appealed the restrictions in court.
President Emmanuel Macron said Monday that marches would be kept away from city centers to protect businesses.
Police also banned access to Place de la République and Les Halles — areas affected by rioting and looting on Oct. 17 — from 11 p.m. to 6 a.m. on Saturday and Sunday nights.
Unaccompanied minors are subject to a separate 9 p.m. curfew in the area around the Champs-Elysées.
However, a Paris court suspended an earlier curfew for minors on Wednesday, ruling that it represented a serious and unlawful restriction on freedom of movement.
The protest movement began with high school students demonstrating over conditions in schools before expanding into broader anger over the rising cost of living.
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Authorities estimated that about 550,000 people marched on Oct. 17, when rioters looted hundreds of stores. Another 410,000 joined last Saturday’s demonstrations, which were largely peaceful, although police made more than 1,300 arrests.
In Germany, a youth initiative known as “Gen Z regelt” — roughly meaning “Gen Z’s got this” — called for protests in around 30 cities in support of education, health care, climate protection and an affordable life, while opposing any return to military conscription.
Organizers said more than 140,000 people had registered online.
Berlin police expected roughly 10,000 people to gather at the Brandenburg Gate. Some stores along Kurfuerstendamm boulevard boarded up their windows, although authorities said they had no knowledge of specific threats of violence.
In Barcelona, Spain, Catalan police planned to issue their highest-level alert after an anonymous TikTok network called Blocus urged people to attend new gatherings.
Rioting in the city last Saturday resulted in about 130 arrests, most involving minors.
Police in Italy remained on alert after clashes in Milan, Turin and Bologna. Calls for protests also circulated on TikTok in Belgium, the Netherlands, Austria, Switzerland and Portugal.
