France's Interior Ministry puts nationwide protest turnout at 410,000 as 70,000 police are deployed

24 October 2026

France's Interior Ministry put nationwide turnout at protests on Saturday, 24 October 2026, at 410,000, including 110,000 in Paris. The CGT union confederation said both figures were nearly double the official totals. More than 70,000 police officers and gendarmes were deployed nationwide, which Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said was 20 per cent more than the previous weekend. Nunez said police arrested nearly 1,000 people across the country. Protests were prohibited in Montpellier, Rouen and Nice, and in Paris the originally negotiated Bastille-to-Nation route was banned. At least 24 metro stations were closed in Paris and the Louvre and Musee d'Orsay shut for the day. The movement began in mid-September with high school student blockades over school conditions. On 23 October 2026 President Emmanuel Macron met student representatives and promised more teachers and an overhaul of Parcoursup, the university admissions system.