France Fields 70,000 Police for Third Weekend of Cost-of-Living Protests as German Rallies Are Called in 30-Plus Cities

Since mid-September, student-led demonstrations over living costs and strained public services have rolled through Italy, Spain, Portugal, Albania and France, at times turning violent. Today, Saturday, Oct. 31, two of the biggest tests are scheduled: a third straight weekend of protests in France, and a wave of rallies called across Germany.

France: 70,000 officers and a city-center ban

Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez has called today "a very high risk" day. He said disorder could begin with daytime marches and continue well into the night. Some far-left organizers are urging 8 p.m. gatherings in many cities, he said, and he pointed to online posts calling for "insurrection."

France will field 70,000 police and gendarmes, including elite units. That matches last week's deployment. Officers on leave have been recalled and rest days canceled.

The backdrop is Oct. 17, when rioters looted hundreds of shops and security forces struggled to contain the disorder. Unrest followed on Oct. 24 in cities including Bordeaux and Lyon. "Everyone is on deck to ensure an extremely firm response to any trouble," Nuñez said earlier this week.

On Thursday he announced that protests in city centers are banned and that only marches "on the outskirts of cities" are permitted. Organizers were asked to "provide guarantees" of good conditions.

In Paris, police restricted union and Yellow Vest marches to a route along the outer boulevards, from Porte de Bagnolet to Porte de Charenton. Access to Place de la République and Les Halles is barred from 11 p.m. to 6 a.m. on Saturday and Sunday. A 9 p.m. curfew applies to unaccompanied minors around the Champs-Élysées. A Paris court had earlier suspended a separate curfew on minors.

Nuñez also warned that gatherings dressed up as Halloween events would be banned. Police can prohibit face coverings when public order is threatened, he said, a concern with masks in play. The U.S. Embassy has told American travelers to avoid areas where demonstrations are planned.

Unions fight the ban

The unions see the restrictions differently. In a joint statement on Wednesday, major unions said they would explore "all possible avenues of appeal against this general and disproportionate ban on the exercise of a public freedom that is essential in a democracy." Unions and student groups have also challenged the Paris restrictions in court.

Human rights groups continue to accuse French police of excessive force. UN human rights experts have condemned what they called the "excessive use of force" against the student protests.

The government outlined measures aimed at student grievances on Monday. Unions have called them insufficient. The movement now includes students, unions and a revived Yellow Vest presence.

Germany: Gen Z regelt calls its first big day

In Germany, a loose alliance called Gen Z regelt ("Gen Z is sorting it") has called supporters out in more than 30 cities. Its demands are more spending on schools, climate protection and housing, and opposition to any return to mandatory military service.

By Friday, more than 160,000 people had registered on the group's website saying they planned to attend. That is a sign-up count, not a turnout figure. About 10,000 people, mostly pupils, students and parents, are expected at the Brandenburg Gate this afternoon. Large rallies are also called in Cologne, Munich, Frankfurt and Hamburg.

The organizers say their protest is "peaceful, without exception." The federal pupils' conference, a youth lobbying group, has distanced itself from today's events. It cited the initiative's "unclear" structure and plans its own Berlin protest, including teachers, on Nov. 20.

Berlin braces, politicians split

Alexander Throm of the ruling CDU parliamentary group wrote in Handelsblatt: "Scenes like those in France must be prevented at all costs." The Federal Interior Ministry said parts of the far-left extremist scene and groups linked to foreign extremist movements have joined the mobilization.

Berlin police chief Barbara Slowik Meisel is adding 1,500 officers in the capital. She also said: "We have no concrete evidence of any coordinated looting operations being planned."

Green co-leader Felix Banaszak criticized the CDU's tone. Rhetoric that "seeks to criminalise these protests pre-emptively and paint them as the work of marauding gangs," he told the RND media group, "may even drive people towards radicalisation."

Other voices on the left are openly looking to France. According to Die Welt, Die Linke co-leader Ines Schwerdtner told an online youth briefing that connecting movements, as in France, is something "we must also do in Germany, but on our own ground." German Police Union chairman Jochen Kopelke, also per Die Welt, described a Europe-wide protest movement mobilizing digitally, and said German police are better prepared than their French counterparts were.

Whether France's outskirts-only rule holds through tonight, when Nuñez expects trouble after dark, is the immediate test. The unions' appeals against the ban have not been resolved. In Germany, the Nov. 20 pupils' protest in Berlin is the next scheduled event.