Clashes on streets of Paris, after mostly peaceful demonstrationspublished at 17:44 BST

17:44 BST

Hugh Schofield
Paris Correspondent

Once again it’s at the end of the demonstrations that law and order begins to break down.

Here in Paris riot police have been baton-charging groups of masked youths who’ve been smashing the windows of a car dealership on the Cours de Vincennes.

Thick clouds of tear gas fill the air, and there’s been a fair amount of water-cannoning as well.

Earlier it had been a totally peaceful demonstration taking more than 100,000 marchers on a route well away from the city centre.

There are big police reinforcements compared to last week, and - as the Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez explained - systematic bag checks on protesters yielded results.

In other flashpoint cities from last week - like Marseille and Lyon - it’s been a similar picture: some clashes on the edge of demonstrations but on nothing like the same scale as last week.

And in Orléans - where the hard-right National Rally is holding its annual Congress - a march by 10,000 left-wing opponents passed off peacefully.

Nearly 400 "masked individuals" committed acts of vandalism and attacked police "with mortars and projectiles" on the sidelines of protests in Grenoble, the local prefecture says.

The statement says the masked protesters were from the "black bloc" group and police intervened to restore order in the city, in the south-east of France.

The demonstration had been organised by the CGT union and yellow vest movement, the prefecture adds in a post on X.

Police in Paris say they have mobilised an elite unit called BRI-PP to intervene in the capital and surrounding areas.

The unit usually focuses on organised crime and counter-terrorism operations.

It's not the only elite policing squad to have been deployed at the protests; earlier, we reported that Brav M officers were patrolling the streets of Paris on motorbikes.

About 70,000 police officers have been mobilised nationwide today.

Image source, Préfecture de Police

Jacob Phillips
Live reporter

Image source, Reuters

Police in Paris say that more than 3,000 checks have been carried out and 65 people were arrested during demonstrations in the French capital.

Here is a reminder of some other disruptions:

• A group of 400 people have blocked a key road in Saint-Étienne bringing traffic to a standstill, according to the prefect for the region
• In Marseille tear gas was used on protesters who prepared to shield themselves using a barricade
• In Lyon around 10,000 people gathered at several unauthorised marches which were dispersed with tear gas, according to Franceinfo
• Several clashes took place between police and protesters in Strasbourg while a water cannon was used as several unauthorised marches took place in Nancy, according to Le Parisien

• Six people were arrested in Nantes following "vandalism and looting," according to the region's prefecture
• Meanwhile, the mayor of Nice says that 30 arrests have been made in his city

According to French broadcaster BFMTV, protests have been permitted in eight cities in France.

The yellow vests, key participants in last weekend's protests, previously said more than 700 gatherings were planned across France on Saturday.

Image source, Reuters

The protests in France come ahead of the country's presidential election, scheduled on 18 April and 2 May 2027.

Presidential candidates from the anti-immigration nationalist right (Marine Le Pen) and also the anti-capitalist left (Jean-Luc Mélenchon) are vying to make headlines.

Le Pen launched a video address via social media last Sunday blaming Mélenchon for his associates who "look to throw the country into chaos", while also urging French voters to "choose a different path" from the current centrist Macron government.

Last week, France's centrist Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu suggested that student anger was being manipulated as politics heats up ahead of next year's vote - later speaking of "insurrections" planned by "small far-left and ultra-left groups".

Mélenchon, currently running in second place in most polls ahead of centrist candidates, accused Lecornu of being "responsible for the chaos" either due to "incompetence or a worst-case strategy".

Marine Le Pen is expected to officially launch her 2027 presidential campaign at her party's rally in Orléans on Sunday.

Police in Paris say that 110,000 people marched in the capital today as part of nationwide protests.

The situation across the city was mostly "calm", they add.

A major police operation in under way in Milan, reports our team from Italy - where demonstrations were also planned.

Police and military officers are stopping and searching groups of teenagers, to prevent anyone gathering for a protest.

Image source, Getty Images

French hard-right leader Marine Le Pen thanks law enforcement officers who are out on the streets across France today.

In a post on X, she writes: "A tribute to our law enforcement forces, to our gendarmes, and to all those mobilised today everywhere in France to ensure the safety of the French people."

She is in Orléans, the location of her National Rally party's two-day conference.

Around 13,000 people have taken to the streets there to protest the party.

An image from Marseille shows masked protesters preparing a barricade.

Elsewhere in the south of France, protesters in Bordeaux have also been building barricades.

Image source, Reuters

Local authorities in Orléans say 13,000 people "peacefully" marched against the National Rally as of 14:00 local time (13:00 BST).

They were demonstrating against the hard-right party, which is holding a two-day conference in the city.

Jordan Bardella was re-elected as president during the event and Marine Le Pen is set to launch her presidential campaign.

Image source, Reuters

Tear gas is often used at major protests in Francepublished at 16:17 BST

16:17 BST

Nick Beake
Europe correspondent, in Paris

Image source, Reuters

This time last week, several major French cities were descending into chaos. Looting had begun and tear gas filled many streets. In Marseille, the police were overwhelmed, eventually running out of gas canisters, as one police union rep later told us.

Today, no such repeat. At least so far.

Two factors are in the police’s favour at the moment.

First - many marches have been banned or their routes changed or curtailed.

Second - the weather, at least in the capital. Rain is becoming heavier here and open umbrellas rather than outright mayhem is the current view.

We see there is now some tear gas being used in Marseille, Lyon and Nantes as well.

The truth is, over the past decade, it would have been highly unusual for it not to be deployed at some point during a major gathering of protesters.

Even within crowds of overwhelmingly peaceful groups, police frequently use it to disperse crowds at the end of official rallies, particularly if they’ve identified a hardcore and potentially violent element.

But it’s not yet nightfall and things can change quickly.

Protesters have been pictured running away and trying to cover their mouths after tear gas was fired in Lyon.

Here are some of the latest images from the city in the east of France.

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Préfète de la Nouvelle-Aquitaine et de la Gironde/X

Police in Bordeaux, southern France, say some protesters are throwing projectiles, attacking law enforcement and setting up barricades on Place de la Bourse.

They warn people should avoid the area.

Video footage, shared by the prefecture, shows people in dark clothing and face coverings taking boards off a building and using them to form a barricade along a street.

Image source, Reuters

Tear gas has been fired in cities across France as protests continue.

Tear gas grenades were used to disperse the crowd in Lyon, while footage of the protests also shows tear gas being used on crowds in Marseille.

"There were around 150 of us, mostly secondary school and university students," says one protester in Lyon.

"Then the tear gas came almost immediately. You could barely see anything in the street."

French newspaper Le Parisien says police have been using water cannon and there are reports of tear gas being fired in Nice.

Police also fired tear gas at several hundred demonstrators in Clermont-Ferrand, according to French broadcaster France3.

Earlier on Saturday, police said they used tear gas and a water cannon as protesters attempted to breach a restricted area in Nantes.

We're now receiving agency pictures showing the head of the Paris protest arriving at Porte de Vincennes, the end point of the authorised demonstration.

They are escorted by CRS riot police officers.

Image source, Reuters

A protester in central Paris tells the BBC demonstrations will continue until French President Emmanuel Macron listens to protesters.

Zelie, 26, says people have taken to the street because they are "really frustrated" and have been "suffering a lot" since Macron came to office.

"They keep us quiet," she says. "They take our money, they tax us a lot and we can't say anything.

"Today we are in the streets because it's been too long, it's been too much."

Zelie highlights that teachers have been suffering from burnout and describes how her school was one of the worst in France.

She says students "could feel the wind during winter time" in her school building and in summer indoor temperatures reached 35C, making it tough to study.

"[We want] Macron to understand what we need and start taking actions," she continues.

Zelie says she is not sure if she will have a bright future in France and explains she was unemployed for six months while searching for a marketing job.

Nick Beake
Europe correspondent, in Paris

We’ve just met two 18-year-olds who have joined the rally in Paris.

The teenagers - who didn’t want to give their names - say their generation is in despair and feel abandoned by the Macron government.

One of them claims the police have been totally disproportionate in their treatment of the student protest.

I ask why he's covering his face. He replies it's because it’s cold and because there may be tear gas. He says the looting of last weekend was unacceptable.

"I think looting is really not good. But it’s because of poverty and the violence of the police."

I ask when this cycle of protest will end.

He replies: "I hope only when we have a response to our demands. We really want a change in France."

Image source, Reuters

Far-left French presidential candidate Jean-Luc Mélenchon has been speaking at the front of the permitted protest in Paris.

We saw him earlier raising his fist in a crowd of demonstrators.

He says: "There is a magnificent mass response, showing collective discipline and self-control. I think he [Emmanuel Macron] will realise that this is going to happen every week - it's time for him to give in.

"Don’t add fuel to the fire, stop trying to pit people against each other."

Away from the protests in France, hundreds of demonstrators are expected to march this afternoon in several Italian cities as well.

Hundreds of soldiers have been sent to Milan as fresh demonstrations are expected on Saturday.

Photos from the scene taken by the BBC in Milan show military personnel patrolling the city centre and a boarded up Nike store.

The Italian government has cracked down on protests following the disorder which broke out last weekend.

Mark Lowen
Reporting from Paris

The huge crowds on the southern ringroad of Paris are hoping for a peaceful march today, but Julian, one of the students I've been speaking to, tells me he fears the violence of the authorities, rather than that of other protesters.

"We're becoming a police state," he says.

Anaïs, who recently graduated, says looting and attacks are not the answer but adds "the government is using violence to repress us - they bear responsibility for what has happened here".

It is very hard to see how this is resolved.

Even if today passes largely peacefully - although there have already been some tear gas and scuffles elsewhere in the country - the authorities get breathing space for a matter of days at the most, with more protests planned and rolling strikes called by the unions from next month.

The government has no money to throw at the problem, France is divided and volatile, and a deeply unpopular president is in the twilight of his stay at the Élysée Palace.

It feels like we’ll be here a lot over the next six months.