France just called a Molotov attack on police attempted murder
1 hour ago · 31 October 2026Share
Police officers in riot gear confront protesters during a strike riot in Santiago, Chile. File photo. Dwayne Reilander · CC0
Hundreds of thousands of people marched across France today.
It's the third weekend running. Same reason every time — the cost of living, and inequality.
And once again, it ended with police getting attacked.
So here are the numbers. The interior ministry says 320,000 people marched nationwide. About 70,000 of them in Paris. Youth unions say it was way more — nearly half a million nationwide, 200,000 in Paris.
A week ago it was 410,000 nationwide. So by the government's own count, today was smaller.
Now here's where it went wrong.
Paris police had only given permission for the march to happen on the southeastern outskirts. Nowhere near the city centre.
At Porte de Charenton, right where the authorised route ended, a hard core of several hundred rioters at the back of the march turned on police. That's according to the Paris police prefecture.
Dozens of people, masked, dressed in black, started prying up paving stones with hammers. And throwing them at officers.
And then someone threw a Molotov cocktail. It hit a police officer.
Laurent Nuñez, France's Interior Minister, says he sees it as attempted murder.
Think about that. That's not condemnation. That's a criminal charge, from the minister himself.
But here's the thing. Nobody agrees on how badly that officer was hurt.
Nuñez first said minor injuries. Then the National Gendarmerie — the officer's own institution — said he actually suffered serious burns to his leg.
So the government and the police are telling two different stories about the same man.
Police hit back with tear gas and baton charges. In Lyon, people threw things at police, and police fired tear gas straight back. In Toulouse, police used water cannon on an unauthorised protest, mostly young people. And in Bordeaux, Toulouse and Marseille, groups tried to push into the city centres to vandalise and loot. Authorities say they stopped them.
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Aerial photograph of Paris from a Royal Air Maroc airplane. APK · CC BY-SA 4.0
Nuñez is blaming far-left extremist groups for all of it. He's calling the violence extraordinary.
One aide to Nuñez says between 400 and 800 hard-left activists were expected in Paris. One outlet reported that. Nobody else has confirmed it.
And the arrests just kept climbing all day. More than 290 by mid-afternoon. Over 420 by early evening. 511 by 8pm. 520 by 9pm, according to Nuñez. Nobody has a final settled number yet.
The far right jumped on this fast.
Marine Le Pen says whoever threw that Molotov cocktail must be punished with the utmost severity. She called the images of the officer in flames unbearable.
Jordan Bardella, who leads her National Rally party, wants severe punishment too.
And Bruno Retailleau — a former interior minister, now running for president — also called it attempted murder.
So tonight, Nuñez has banned masks on the streets after dark. He says quote "we are fully prepared for those looking for confrontation tonight".
There's a curfew now in central Paris, in République and Châtelet-Les Halles. 11pm to 6am, tonight and tomorrow night both.
And remember, this is the third weekend running that's turned violent. Two weeks ago, France saw one of the worst days of civil unrest in its recent history. Looting, street violence, all of it.
That's why 70,000 police and gendarmes, including elite units, were out today. The government is not treating this lightly anymore.
And the students aren't stopping either. Sabrine Kharbach, from the Union Étudiante, says students will blockade universities and high schools this week. Then join a bigger demonstration on 5 November, called by trade unions.
All of this is happening about six months before France's presidential elections. And support for the far right keeps growing.
So what don't we know? Who threw the Molotov cocktail. Whether anyone's been arrested for it specifically. And how many officers were actually hurt tonight — one unconfirmed report says five, three of them by Molotov cocktails, but nobody else has backed that up.
France has one more weekend to get through before the next one.
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