Demonstrations of October 31: 779 arrests in France, 116 law enforcement officers injured and 36 businesses damaged

Some 779 people were arrested in France during the day and evening of Saturday, “without major incident” during the second part of the evening, during Act III of the mobilization against the high cost of living, according to a latest report on Sunday from the Ministry of the Interior.

During this third day of demonstrations, 291 public actions were counted, bringing together 320,000 people including 70,000 in Paris, according to the ministry, which specifies having carried out 40,000 checks on the national territory.

On October 24, 289 actions had been recorded for 410,000 people (including 110,000 in Paris). On October 17, the ministry had identified 441 actions bringing together 550,000 people (including 110,000 in Paris).

Mobilization down 22% over one week

According to the youth inter-union, which brings together unions or associations representing the high school and student world (EU, Fage, Unef and USL), nearly 500,000 people demonstrated on Saturday in France, including 200,000 in Paris. The unions counted 800,000 people mobilized on October 17 and also on October 24.

The Ministry of the Interior, for its part, assessed that the mobilization on Saturday was “down”, by “22% compared to October 24” and “42% compared to October 17”.

The ministry mentions 515 fire outbreaks dealt with, 36 businesses damaged, including 3 looted (compared to 69 including 24 looted on October 24). Beauvau notes that on Saturday at 9 p.m., “565 arrests were made (1435 on Saturday October 24, 2628 on Saturday October 17), 116 members of the police were injured (267 on October 24, 1144 the week before)”.

From 9 p.m., for Halloween evening, 214 people were arrested (170 in 2025, 148 in 2024) and 43 members of the police injured (16 in 2025, 11 in 2024).