France protests enter third week as police fire tear gas

On October 31, 2026, France braced for large-scale protests coinciding with Halloween, deploying 70,000 police officers to maintain order. The protests, which began in September due to poor conditions in public high schools and teacher shortages, have since spread across the country and involved other activists and workers. In Paris, clashes turned violent when rioters threw petrol bombs at security forces, leading French prosecutors to open an "attempted murder" investigation after a police officer suffered second-degree burns from a Molotov cocktail attack. Similar unrest occurred in Germany, where looters rampaged through Frankfurt, damaging stores and injuring over 100 police officers. These events highlight the risks of protests being defined by violence, making underlying issues harder to resolve.