France protests: Interior minister puts preliminary toll at 550,000 with 60 officers injured

Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez gave the official toll for Saturday’s nationwide protests at an evening press conference on BFMTV, with figures on arrests and injuries described as preliminary. The Interior Ministry counted 550,000 protesters across 110 demonstrations, including 110,000 in Paris. Organisers — the CGT and student groups — claim 800,000 took part, according to Le Monde (https://mezha.net/eng/news/mezha-9d8efd7f3df3c3fa124c39b4_more_than_half/).

Around 400 people were arrested, mostly adults, and 60 security officers were injured — two of them taken to hospital unconscious — per the BFMTV briefing (https://linksgraph.com/en/french-interior-minister-reports-60-security-officers-injured-after-protests).

Nuñez said rioter groups “openly incited by the far left” had attacked police. The RAID special unit was deployed in Bordeaux after rioters broke into the prefect of Gironde’s official residence and ransacked it. Elsewhere, Limoges town hall’s roof was burned, a Lyon tourist office was torched and protesters briefly forced their way into the lobby of Marseille’s city hall.

President Emmanuel Macron condemned the violence and promised that those who destroyed property and looted would be held accountable and punished; Prime Minister Lecornu said: “We will not let ourselves be intimidated. No one will impose their political agenda through violence”.

The demonstrations over rising living costs merged with student grievances, as AP reported (https://www.newindianexpress.com/world/2026/Oct/17/protesters-across-france-rally-over-rising-living-costs-joining-students-grievances).