France Struggles With Police Tactics After Violent Protest Weekend

France faced a major crisis after a weekend of protests that turned violent across the country. Hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets on Saturday to protest rising prices and to support students demanding better funding for schools. The demonstrations led to clashes with police, fires set in public buildings, looting of stores, and at least 2,400 arrests. The chaos sparked a serious debate about how French police handle large protests.

The protests began weeks earlier in high schools in France's overseas territories — islands and regions that belong to France but are far from the European mainland. Students were upset about crumbling school buildings, a shortage of teachers, and what they saw as a lack of support from the government. The movement spread quickly to schools in the poorer suburbs of Paris, and then grew into a nationwide protest involving unions, student groups, and activists. Many of those activists hoped to bring back energy from the Yellow Vests movement, which began in 2018 over fuel prices and the high cost of living.

On Saturday alone, authorities said about 550,000 people marched across France, while protest organizers said the number was closer to 800,000. Police used tear gas and special crowd-control weapons during clashes with demonstrators. In the city of Saint-Étienne, a 17-year-old lost his hand when a grenade went off near him. In the city of Mulhouse, a 17-year-old girl lost the use of one of her eyes. One protester in Paris died near a demonstration after what doctors described as a likely heart attack, though officials said they were still looking into the circumstances.

Lawyers and professors who study French policing say the weapons used by police are more dangerous than officials often admit. Prisca Ancion, a lawyer who works in the Paris suburbs, said the French police have become more heavily armed than ever. She noted that special police units carry military-grade equipment, including stun grenades, rubber bullet launchers — sometimes called 'flashballs' — and tear gas. These weapons are often labeled 'non-lethal,' but Ancion said a better term would be 'less lethal' because they can cause serious, permanent injuries.

Oliver Davis, a professor of French studies at University College Cork in Ireland, agreed that the word 'non-lethal' is misleading. He said these weapons entered French policing in the 1990s and can cause terrible harm if aimed at sensitive parts of the body. 'They can create awful injuries if they're fired at the face, at the genitals or at soft parts of the body, they can ruin people's lives,' he said. Davis also said that French riot police are far more military-like and aggressive than riot police in most other European countries.

Experts say France's approach to crowd control became tougher starting in 2016, during protests against proposed changes to labor laws. That stricter approach was made even more official in 2025 with a new national policy called the 'National Urban Violence Scheme.' Olivier Cahn, a criminal law expert at the University of Paris-Nanterre, said this policy led to a much harsher style of policing. He said it includes surrounding protesters, heavy use of grenades and rubber bullets, and arresting people during protests — and he argued that this approach has not made things safer for police or for protesters.

Some protesters also caused serious damage on Saturday. In the city of Limoges, protesters set fire to the city hall and its roof collapsed. In Lyon, the local tourism office was also set on fire, and stores were looted in several cities. President Emmanuel Macron addressed the nation on Sunday, saying that France felt 'anger' and 'shame' over what happened. He said those responsible for the violence would be held accountable and asked local leaders to protect public buildings, even by banning protests if necessary.

France's Interior Minister, Laurent Nunez, admitted that there had been a 'lack of anticipation' before Saturday's protests. Intelligence services had predicted only about 200,000 protesters would show up, far fewer than the more than half a million who actually came. Nunez said the roughly 60,000 police officers deployed that day were not enough and that officers 'lost control' in some cities. He offered to resign, but President Macron rejected the offer.

Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu asked cities to put in place nighttime curfews — rules that tell people to stay home after a certain hour — to help restore order. Some northern cities introduced curfews for Monday and Tuesday nights. Certain neighborhoods in Paris also had overnight curfews. The prime minister said a state of emergency could be declared if the situation got worse, though that step was not yet taken.

Politicians on the left side of France's political world are now loudly calling for a change in how police handle protests. Green Party leader Marine Tondelier said police tactics should be 'reviewed quickly,' arguing that the current approach puts both protesters and officers at risk and takes away people's civil liberties. The socialist mayor of Marseille, Benoît Payan, demanded that the government explain its policing decisions. For now, the government does not appear ready to change course, but the pressure from critics is growing louder.