France plans to mobilise about 70,000 police officers and gendarmes on Saturday, 31 October, as authorities prepare for nationwide demonstrations over wages, living costs and public services. The third consecutive weekend of protests coincides with Halloween, prompting additional public-order restrictions.
The interior minister announced the deployment to safeguard public order and characterised the day as carrying a very high risk of disorder. That assessment sets out the authorities’ concerns ahead of the demonstrations; it does not establish that violence will occur.
The planned mobilisation matches the reported 70,000-person deployment for the preceding Saturday. A government estimate put attendance at that earlier weekend’s marches at 410,000 nationwide. That figure relates to the previous demonstrations, not to expected turnout on 31 October.
Labour organisations, student groups and Yellow Vest activists have called for further demonstrations. Alongside concerns about pay, living costs and public services, student participants have cited school conditions, crowded classes and university admissions. Those groups do not necessarily represent everyone expected to attend.
Unrest on 17 October was reported to have included rioting, looting and damage to shops, public buildings and businesses.
Halloween gatherings and transport restrictions
The interior minister said demonstrations would be permitted, but not in city centres where authorities considered there to be a public-order risk. Some planned Halloween-evening gatherings were also expected to be banned.
Officials said they had identified online calls for evening Halloween gatherings in several cities. Those statements describe the authorities’ assessment of planned activity, rather than establishing criminal conduct by any individual or organisation.
Authorities also warned that face coverings could be restricted where public order was at risk. The concern was linked to the possibility that Halloween masks could conceal identities, not to evidence that people attending the demonstrations would do so.
In Paris, more than 40 metro stations were reported as scheduled to close on 31 October, with tram disruption also anticipated. A municipal notice separately warned of traffic and parking restrictions, bus diversions and temporary metro-station closures around the demonstration route.
The notice for the 15th arrondissement said the official route lay outside that district. However, residents were warned that journeys starting there could still be affected elsewhere in the capital.
Protected areas in central Paris
An official notice for the 8th arrondissement said declared demonstrations there had been prohibited from 30 October. These included gatherings originally declared at 35 avenue Gabriel and on the Champs-Élysées to Place Charles-de-Gaulle.
In specified protected areas, participation in or movement with undeclared processions or gatherings was prohibited from 20:00 on 30 October until 06:00 on 2 November. That followed an earlier overnight restriction beginning on 29 October.
The protected areas include Place Charles-de-Gaulle–Étoile, the Champs-Élysées, the areas around the Élysée Palace and Place Beauvau, Madeleine, Place de la Concorde and the approaches to Saint-Lazare station.
The notice says identity checks, visual inspections, bag searches and vehicle checks could be carried out within those zones. Residents, workers and customers retained access, subject to possible filtering.
For the nights from 30 October to 2 November, unaccompanied minors are barred from circulating or remaining on public roads in the specified protected zones between 21:00 and 06:00. The notice lists exceptions for medical emergencies and documented training-related travel.
A separate preventive measure prohibits depositing movable furniture or materials on public land anywhere in Paris from 06:00 on 31 October until 06:00 on 2 November.
The notice also records Paris-wide restrictions during the period on carrying weapons or objects that could be used as weapons without legitimate reason. Other restrictions cover certain fireworks and pyrotechnics, fuel or flammable gas in individual containers, and specified protective equipment intended to defeat crowd-control measures.
Paris municipal services are also planning a weekend clean-up mobilisation of more than 1,000 workers. That is a contingency and service-planning measure, not evidence of damage during the demonstrations planned for 31 October.
