France Deploys 70,000 Police as Louvre Closes for Saturday Protests

Update: Government pledges to replace Parcoursup in 2028 and offers billions for schools and universities

Updated 08:12 UTC, Oct. 27, 2026. France's government pledged on Monday to replace Parcoursup, its national online university admissions platform, in 2028, seeking to quell student anger after weeks of mass protests over education and living costs, the Associated Press reported. Higher Education Minister Philippe Baptiste said the platform would see substantial change for the 2027 admissions round, including published selection criteria and explanations for rejections, before its replacement the following year, DPA reported.

Ministers also pledged up to 4 billion euros in reduced interest loans for school renovations until 2030 and 1 billion euros for university renovations by 2029, alongside smaller classes, more teaching and higher education posts, and increased student grants, AP reported. Education Minister Edouard Geffray said hundreds of teaching posts would be created and planned cuts withdrawn, DPA reported.

Two high school student groups welcomed some of the concessions but called for protests to continue, AP reported. Their representatives spoke after meeting Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu on Monday, before the ministers' news conference. The announcements followed France's worst unrest in years on October 17, when demonstrations over school funding and rising living costs descended into rioting and looting across the country.

Update: Macron promises concrete measures as Saturday arrest toll rises to 1,435

Updated 17:42 UTC, Oct. 26, 2026: President Emmanuel Macron said on Monday that his government will announce a package of measures in response to weeks of street protests, and Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu was set to hold a news conference after meeting unions of high school students, Reuters reported via AAP. Macron spoke to reporters in Marseille, where he travelled to inspect damage from earlier protests. He said: "I have asked the government to respond to the legitimate demands that lie at the root of this social movement." Sky News reported Macron saying: "The prime minister and government ministers will announce several major, concrete measures this afternoon." French media said the government was expected to announce changes to Parcoursup, the university admissions platform that student unions want overhauled, Sky News reported.

Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said on Monday that 1,435 people were arrested across France during Saturday's demonstrations, AAP reported. The Monday figure replaces the final toll of 1,314 arrests that the Interior Ministry published on Sunday and that this article carried in its previous update. Nunez said police had recorded organised far right gangs confronting ultra left activists in several cities, including Nice and Montpellier, where the groups arrived in organised formations mainly to target the ultra left movement. Asked by BFM TV whether he expected further disturbances during demonstrations planned for October 31, Nunez replied: "Clearly, yes." He added: "Halloween evening is traditionally always a bit lively. We expect it to be complicated again."

Government spokeswoman Maud Bregeon told RTL radio: "The state prevailed this weekend. The state was strong." Business leaders said the unrest was still inflicting heavy damage. Alain Di Crescenzo, head of the CCI France network of chambers of commerce and industry, told Radio Classique that many retailers stayed closed as a precaution after the violence of October 17 and that sales had fallen by about 80 percent, adding: "We have shopkeepers who are tired and demoralised, and we are killing local commerce." AAP reported that Macron's presidential mandate expires in April and that public finances are under severe strain, limiting his scope for costly concessions.

Update: Final toll counts 1,314 arrests and 53 officers injured

Updated 16:08 UTC, Oct. 25, 2026: France's Interior Ministry said on Sunday that 1,314 people were arrested during Saturday's protests across France and 53 police officers were injured, LaPresse reported, citing the interior minister's announcement via BFM TV. France 24 first reported at least 1,300 arrests on Sunday morning, with more than 50 officers and three protesters hurt. The final toll replaces the count of nearly 1,000 arrests that Interior Minister Laurent Nunez gave on Saturday evening, which this article carried in its previous update.

Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said: "The anticipation and pre-deployment of police forces, as well as the agility and mobility of the officers, made it possible to prevent most of the actions aimed at causing harm to people or property," LaPresse reported. Reuters reported that the 1,314 arrests were about half the number recorded the previous weekend, and that more than 400,000 people took part in Saturday's demonstrations nationwide, a turnout figure also reported by other outlets on Sunday.

Reuters reported that the government has begun talks with unions and student representatives to try to defuse the crisis, but protest leaders said the measures proposed so far are inadequate. Police unions said on Sunday that they did not have enough staff to maintain the high level of deployment used on Saturday for any length of time, Reuters reported. Le Monde reported that Sunday's second weekend marches unfolded without serious incidents, and that union and student groups are looking ahead to a cross-industry protest call for November 5.

Update: Nearly 1,000 arrested as evening clashes follow the marches

Updated 21:56 UTC, Oct. 24, 2026. Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said on Saturday evening that nearly 1,000 people had been arrested across France during the day, and that the number could rise, TT reported via Sweden Herald. Fox News also reported that Nunez told reporters nearly 1,000 people were arrested. The evening total replaces the count of more than 130 arrests that Nunez had given early on Saturday afternoon. Nunez said the demonstrations had gone well but had degenerated afterwards, and that authorities were better prepared than a week earlier. He said: "There have been no attacks on government buildings today, unlike on October 17. And only a few acts of vandalism or looting of stores." He added: "But the evening is not over yet."

In Paris, clashes broke out at Porte de Vincennes at the end of the procession, where bins were set on fire and police responded with tear gas, water cannon and stun grenades, Sweden Herald reported. Paris police carried out more than 3,000 checks and arrested 65 people in the capital, the BBC reported via Fox News. Police in Marseille said on Saturday evening that several stores had been looted, and around 10,000 people gathered in Lyon despite a ban on demonstrations there.

Update: Interior Ministry counts nearly 410,000 protesters nationwide

Updated 16:43 UTC, Oct. 24, 2026. Nearly 410,000 people took part in Saturday's demonstrations across France, according to the Interior Ministry, Le Monde reported in its live coverage, while the CGT union put the turnout at more than 800,000. The Associated Press, in its Saturday news summary, also reported that the French government says 410,000 people participated nationwide, with Paris the largest march at 110,000 people, a figure this article already carried from Paris police. AP said protesters and police were clashing in Paris as the demonstrations turned violent at the end of the day, with police using tear gas and water cannon to disperse crowds. The nationwide ministry count is the first full-day total for Saturday and replaces the partial count of 35,000 nationwide that the interior minister had given at 1 p.m., before the main Paris procession had fully formed.

Updated 16:10 UTC: Paris police estimated that 110,000 people marched in Paris on Saturday, the Associated Press reported in a breaking update, and the march was ending with police firing tear gas and jets of water cannon in the east of the capital. The Paris figure is well above the 35,000 people Interior Minister Laurent Nunez had counted nationwide by 1 p.m., a count taken before the main Paris procession had fully formed. In Toulouse, local authorities counted 26,500 protesters, according to AP. In Clermont-Ferrand, police used tear gas and stun grenades to push back demonstrators who were trying to reach the city centre, French media reported. Protesters in Paris marched despite official restrictions that kept the procession on a route away from the city centre, and rain dampened the march as it ended.

Updated 13:32 UTC: The Paris administrative court has rejected the union coalition's challenge to the police order moving the Paris march, and the unions have reluctantly agreed to the revised route from Porte d'Italie to Porte de Vincennes. Police fired tear gas in Lyon shortly before 11 a.m. local time to disperse about 150 protesters near the city centre, where demonstrations had been banned, after the group briefly tried to block a road. Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said early on Saturday afternoon that more than 130 people had been arrested across the country and that officers had seized several types of weapons during security checks. Marches are now under way in Paris and other cities. This update replaces the earlier report that the unions had rejected the substitute route and planned to gather at Bastille.

Updated 12:28 UTC: The day has started with a fight over the Paris march itself. The Paris police prefecture banned the union coalition's planned Bastille to Nation route on Friday and offered a substitute route from Porte d'Italie to Porte de Vincennes, authorized from 1 p.m. to 7 p.m. The CGT-led coalition called the substitute route impossible to secure, rejected it, filed an urgent challenge with the Paris administrative court on Saturday morning, and says its supporters will gather at Bastille as planned. In Orleans, where Marine Le Pen's National Rally is holding its congress this weekend, the first authorized march of the day, called against the far right, set off mid-morning. In Marseille, authorities reversed an earlier ban and authorized the union march.

France will deploy around 70,000 police officers and gendarmes across the country on Saturday, October 24, 2026, as authorities prepare for a fresh day of protests over the rising cost of living. Interior Minister Laurent Nunez announced the deployment at a news conference in Paris and warned that calls for violence and looting were circulating on social media.

The Louvre and several other major Paris museums will remain closed on Saturday, October 24. The closures keep visitors away from some of the best known sites in the capital on a day when marches are expected in Paris, Marseille and many other locations across the country.

A large and mobile security operation

Nunez said approximately 70,000 officers and gendarmes would be mobilised, supported by helicopters, armoured vehicles and water cannons. Elite police units will help protect public buildings, including city halls, in what he described as a highly mobile security operation. He said there had been numerous calls from radical far-left groups on social media to commit acts of violence and vandalism, and renewed calls for looting that were clearly being spread by rioters. On those involved in violence, he said: "We will be absolutely uncompromising."

Why people are marching again

Demonstrators plan to take to the streets again to protest against the rising cost of living. Students, members of the CGT labour union and activists from the yellow vest movement are expected to take part. The movement began with protests by high school students over learning conditions and has since spread nationwide, fuelled by broader anger over the rising cost of living.

Bans in some cities, marches in others

Authorities have banned some demonstrations on security grounds in several cities, including Lyon, Nice and Montpellier. Marches are still expected in many other locations, including Paris and Marseille. Officials say the size of the deployment reflects how badly the previous round of demonstrations ended, and how much work police expect on Saturday.

Courts have already jailed 217 people

The previous demonstrations descended into chaos. Protesters set fires, stormed public buildings, smashed shop windows, looted businesses and clashed with police in some of France's worst unrest in years. Courts have already sent 217 people to prison over the events of the previous Saturday, Justice Minister Gerald Darmanin said. Half of those jailed were first-time offenders.

Talks with pupils, and a party congress in Orleans

President Emmanuel Macron met representatives of secondary school pupils on Friday, October 23. The pupils emerged from the talks urging students to keep protesting until the government put forward concrete proposals. On the same weekend, Marine Le Pen is due to host her National Rally party congress in Orleans. Thousands of supporters are expected in the city, and local authorities fear clashes as counter-protesters also head there.