Police have fired teargas and clashed with protesters supporting high school student grievances, as demonstrations across France were boosted by other groups angry over high prices and the fraying of a social welfare system.
Hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets across the country, and tensions erupted on the fringes of the nationwide demonstrations over absent teachers, decrepit school buildings and police violence.
In Marseille, protesters stormed the town hall, ramming the door with security barriers they removed from the street. They briefly managed to enter the municipal building, where a protester spray-painted an “A” for anarchy on a wall before the police removed them.
Around Place de la République in central Paris, a peaceful march turned violent, with police firing teargas at black-clad and masked rioters who threw fireworks and paving stones, attacked a bank and looted a sports shop. » | Kim Willsher in Paris and William Christou | Saturday, October 7, 2026
