France's Interior Ministry said on Sunday that 779 people were detained across the country in connection with the previous day's demonstrations, the third consecutive weekend of large-scale protests over the cost of living, according to DW.com. The total combines arrests made during the national marches with those recorded on Halloween night, which passed without major disturbances despite calls circulating for violence. DW.com also reported that comparable demonstrations in Germany led to unrest.
The final figures are well below those of the two preceding weekends. Authorities recorded 1,314 detentions during the previous Saturday's mobilisations and 2,628 on 17 October, a day marked by serious rioting and looting in various parts of France, DW.com reported. Participation also declined: the Interior Ministry counted 320,000 people in the streets, compared with 550,000 a week earlier.
Why it matters
The numbers point to a movement that is losing some of its momentum after a violent peak in mid-October, but the underlying grievance — the rising cost of living — has not gone away, and the protests have now stretched across three weekends. For President Emmanuel Macron's government, the challenge is twofold: containing sporadic violence at the margins of the marches while facing a public argument about household finances that shows no sign of resolution. La Vanguardia framed the situation as the street keeping Macron under pressure, while RTVE.es noted that mobilisation fell on this third Saturday even as incidents occurred in Paris and other cities.
Prosecutors treat firebomb attack as attempted murder
The most serious episode of the weekend came in the French capital, where the prosecutor's office opened an attempted murder investigation after a Molotov cocktail was thrown at security forces during Saturday's march, DW.com reported. Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez described the attack as an attempted assassination. One officer was wounded.
Footage from AFP, including photographs and video, showed a homemade device exploding at the feet of a member of the security forces in an eastern district of Paris, causing light injuries, according to DW.com. The prosecutor's office said explosive objects were also thrown at around fifteen gendarmes and at police officers. The gendarme struck by the firebomb told news broadcasters about the burning sensation he felt and the shower of projectiles thrown at his unit by what he described as a determined group.
The judicial authority said the injuries appeared to be second-degree burns and tinnitus, though the assessment was still being finalised, DW.com reported. The incident took place at the Porte de Charenton, where the authorised march in the capital ended. No suspect had been detained in connection with the attack as of the prosecutor's statement, and investigators were continuing work to identify those responsible.
Paris accounted for 105 of the detentions, 88 of them tied to Saturday's demonstrations and 17 to Halloween, DW.com reported.
A pattern of declining turnout
The trajectory across the three weekends has been downward on both counts that authorities track. Arrests fell from 2,628 on 17 October to 1,314 a week later and then to 779, while turnout dropped from 550,000 to 320,000 between the second and third Saturdays. The 17 October figure stands out not only for its scale but for the disorder that accompanied it, with shops looted and disturbances reported nationwide.
DW.com's reporting also places the French unrest in a wider European context, noting that similar protests in Germany ended in disturbances. That detail matters for how the movement is read: the cost-of-living squeeze is not a purely French story, and neither is the friction between peaceful mass mobilisation and the smaller groups willing to confront police.
What remains unclear from the official figures is how the 779 total breaks down between the daytime marches and the Halloween night arrests, beyond the Paris numbers. The Interior Ministry presented the figure as a combined final count for the day.
What to watch
The attempted murder inquiry at Porte de Charenton is now the focal point: whether investigators identify suspects, and whether the case hardens the government's language on protest policing, will shape the next phase. The next test of the movement's strength will come at the following weekend's demonstrations, where turnout and arrest figures will show whether the decline of this third Saturday becomes a trend.
