The key facts

  • Youth unions counted about 250,000 participants, while the French Interior Ministry put the figure at 146,000
  • About 70,000 police officers and gendarmes were deployed
  • Tear gas was used in Lyon, and police in Paris responded with stun grenades

Mass protests in France: differing estimates of turnout

On November 7, mass protest rallies took place in France, drawing, by various estimates, between 146,000 and 250,000 people. The discrepancy in the figures reflects a situation typical of French demonstrations: youth unions, whose data is cited by BFMTV, counted around 250,000 participants, including 75,000 in Paris, while the Interior Ministry of the republic put the total number of demonstrators at 146,000. This is reported by Gazeta.Ru citing the TV channel.

Reinforced policing and clashes with police

To ensure security on the day of the rallies, about 70,000 police officers and gendarmes were deployed. Nevertheless, clashes broke out between protesters and law enforcement. In Lyon, police used tear gas to disperse the march. In Paris, protesters began throwing projectiles, stones, bottles and smoke bombs at police officers, who responded with stun grenades.

Context: a wave of protests in Europe

The rallies in France became part of a broader wave of protests in early November. According to Gazeta.Ru, in Switzerland a march escalated into major riots and clashes with police, in Germany and France protesters resorted to open looting, and in Poland Russia was accused of supporting street unrest. The causes and consequences of mass protests in Europe are examined in a separate article; in addition, earlier Dmitriev, according to Gazeta.Ru, offered his own version of the causes of the mass unrest in the European Union. Final and independent estimates of the turnout on November 7, as well as data on detentions, have not yet been provided in available publications.