French police detain 1,435, say 267 officers hurt in protests

French police detained 1,435 people during nationwide protests on Saturday, more than 100 of them for carrying weapons meant for use in violence, interior minister Laurent Nuñez said. Nuñez said 267 police officers and gendarmes were hurt, along with about 250 protesters, in demonstrations against living costs and public-service funding that drew between 400,000 and 800,000 people across France.

Nuñez told BFM TV that the situation had been under control and that there had been no serious incidents, but that officers faced a very high level of violence. He said the worst clashes were in Toulouse, Reims and Clermont-Ferrand, where three protesters suffered what he called fairly serious injuries. Police confiscated dozens of knives, slingshots, pétanque balls and other weapons, as well as fireworks, he said.

The French news agency AFP put the number of injured protesters at about 150, lower than the minister's figure of 250. Saturday's demonstrations were largely peaceful, French media reported, unlike the previous Saturday, 17 October, which was marked by thousands of cases of looting. The government deployed tens of thousands of security personnel, backed by helicopters, drones and water cannon.

Nuñez said the situation was unlikely to change significantly in the coming days, and that about ten overnight curfews set by local prefects and mayors would probably stay in place. Further protests are planned for Saturday 31 October, which coincides with Halloween, and the minister said he expected it to be another difficult day requiring extensive security measures. Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu was due to meet secondary school representatives, teachers' unions, employers, local authorities and MPs on Monday over the continuing unrest.

President Emmanuel Macron made a surprise visit to Marseille on Monday, ten days after rioters briefly stormed and vandalised the city hall on 17 October. He acknowledged that police had not been proportionate to the scale of the far-left mobilisation and criminal opportunism that day, saying officials had not expected so many far-left activists to gather so early in the morning rather than at the end of marches. Macron said future marches would stay outside city centres, as in Paris on Saturday, to protect businesses and public buildings.

Macron said social media had been used, especially on 17 October, to draw young people to looting and attacks, and blamed platforms for fuelling what he called a fascination with violence. He defended his decision not to declare a state of emergency, saying it remained an option if the situation worsened, and said the unrest had roots in a school-student movement and anger over the cost of living that began on 17 September.