France is facing a new wave of nationwide protests driven by high school students demanding better learning conditions and funding, alongside broader anger over the rising cost of living and purchasing power. The movement, which includes trade unions and the Yellow Vests, follows a previous weekend of severe unrest that left 3,000 shops damaged or looted and public buildings attacked in some of the worst street violence in years.
To prevent a repeat of the violence, the government has deployed approximately 70,000 security personnel, including elite counter-terrorism units and military support. Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez and Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu have warned that the threat of violence remains high. In response, authorities have banned protests in cities like Marseille and Lyon, while in Paris, a partial curfew has been extended and marches were restricted to the city's southeastern edge to keep them away from the center.
The security crackdown has led to the closure of major Paris institutions, including the Louvre, Orsay, and Picasso museums, as luxury boutiques boarded up their windows. While the government estimates that roughly 400,000 to 410,000 people participated nationwide, with 110,000 in Paris, trade unions claim the actual turnout was double those figures. Civil liberties groups have criticized the restrictions on freedom of movement and assembly.
President Emmanuel Macron, facing a significant social and political crisis, announced that only union-led demonstrations would be permitted and attributed recent riots to seditious ultra-left groups. Macron is set to meet with representatives of the high school students who sparked the movement. Meanwhile, security forces are also monitoring the National Rally party's congress in Orléans, which has drawn both supporters and counter-protesters.