France protests latest: More than 100 detained in France with protest underway in Paris

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Scenes from Paris protests

0:31 • Source: CNN

Scenes from Paris protests

0:31

A protest march is now underway in Paris, with 70,000 police officers expected to be deployed across the country this weekend.

Specialist SWAT units, helicopters, armored vehicles, police dogs and water cannons are at the ready to be deployed as part of the operation, after more than half a million took to the streets last Saturday.

Here’s the latest on the protests:

Police in Paris have already conducted hundreds of control checks in the Île-de-France region, seizing items including a knife, an angle grinder and protective gear such as face masks and diving goggles in the run up to the demonstrations.

Yesterday evening, the Paris police banned the original protest route for today, which would have taken the protest from the Place de la Bastille to Place de la Nation. Unions appealed this decision in court, but the appeal was rejected.

A police spokesperson told CNN affiliate BFMTV the changes to the route were made in response to “evolving threats,” and influenced by what French President Emmanuel Macron described as a “terrorist” attack in a Paris suburb yesterday in which one person was shot dead.

Separately, thousands of protesters have gathered in the French city of Orléans today to protest against the far-right National Rally party, which is holding its congress there this weekend.

CNN’s Joseph Ataman, Ivana Kottasová, Elina Baudier Kim, Charlotte Reck, Issy Ronald and Pierre Bairin contributed to this reporting.

In pictures: French protests spiral into national crisis

While France is no stranger to mass protests and strikes, the latest wave of demonstrations is different, Michael Froman, the president of the Council on Foreign Relations, said.

Writing for US-based think tank’s website, Froman said the protests stem from a “fundamental collapse of the French social contract.”

He wrote:

Froman added the protests are also noteworthy because they are taking place as the political far right is rising in popularity in France.

“Those parties, heading into France’s April 2027 election (not to mention Germany’s rolling election schedule), will seek to capitalize on the resentment that the violence of these protests has fostered and, if successful, to implement their anti-immigrant policy agenda,” he wrote.

In pictures: French protests spiral into national crisis

Around 550,000 people attended the massive demonstrations across France that took place last Saturday, according to the country’s Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez, marking one of the largest days of protest in France in recent years.

Hundreds were arrested, as violence broke out at several protests across the country. Catch up on what took place:

Before the demonstrations even began, fires were burning in the cities of Paris and Marseille. Police fired tear gas towards crowds in Paris and Lyon, charging into protest areas multiple times.

Though the protests were acknowledged by authorities as largely peaceful, in Lyon, a tourist office was set on fire, while demonstrators also broke into city halls in Marseille and Lille, according to CNN affiliate BFMTV.

As demonstrators in Paris reached the final destination of their march, large groups of young people were seen looting and starting fires where the protest began.

A protester in the city of Saint-Étienne, about 40 miles southwest of Lyon, lost his hand during a march there, a police source told CNN affiliate BFMTV. There were no further details of how the incident occurred.

French President Emmanuel Macron condemned the violence, saying that those who attacked government buildings and businesses would be “prosecuted and punished.” There is “no room for violence in our Republic,” he said in a social media post.

CNN’s August Phillips, Joseph Ataman, Elina Baudier Kim and Charlotte Reck contributed to this reporting.