# France protests: over 1,300 arrested; Louvre, Mona Lisa and Paris Opera shut for the day Source: Searchable (https://searchable.pk/news/world/france-deploys-70000-police-for-saturday-protests-as-217-are-jailed-over-riots) Type: News article Author: Searchable Editorial Published: 24 Oct 2026 Updated: 25 Oct 2026 Retrieved: 25 Oct 2026 > Arrests from Saturday's marches passed 1,300 as Paris locked the Louvre, the Tuileries and both opera houses. What happened, city by city, and the next date: 31 October. **Updated Sunday 25 October 2026, 3:45pm PKT: arrests from Saturday's protests in France have passed 1,300**, [BBC News reported](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c95ynd587ynzo), up from the "nearly 1,000" Interior Minister Laurent Nunez gave on Saturday night, when he warned the figure would rise "significantly". In Paris alone, 64 people were arrested, six of them minors, and more than 3,000 were stopped and checked, [CBS News reported](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/paris-france-new-protests-riots-museums-shops/). **Paris closed its museums for the day.** The Louvre and its garden were locked, so the Mona Lisa was off limits, and the Tuileries, the Orangerie, the Jeu de Paume and the Picasso museum were shut too; the Paris Opera closed both the Palais Garnier and the Opera Bastille, and Art Basel Paris cancelled its weekend programme, [Business Recorder reported](https://www.brecorder.com/news/40445860/mona-lisa-off-limits-as-paris-shuts-museums-over-protest-fears). No reopening date was given; Pakistani visitors in Paris this week should check each venue's website before going. The next big date is **Saturday 31 October**, when the Yellow Vests plan nationwide rallies and sit-ins outside parliament and city halls. In Italy, 500 more soldiers were sent to Milan and protesters briefly entered the Colosseum in Rome. Travelling to Europe? Check today's euro rate on our [euro to rupee page](/data/eur-pkr). **Updated Sunday 25 October 2026, 7am PKT: nearly 1,000 people were arrested in France on Saturday** as hundreds of thousands marched again, Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said, a number he expected to rise, [BBC News reported](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c95ynd587ynzo). The interior ministry put the turnout at about **410,000**; unions said **800,000**. The day was mostly peaceful and avoided the looting of the previous weekend, but clashes broke out late on Saturday: - **Paris:** police baton-charged masked groups smashing a car dealership's windows at the end of a march from Porte d'Italie to Porte de Vincennes. Nunez said about 500 people identified as rioters were among several thousand radical activists at the back of the march. - **Marseille:** barricades and bins were set alight. - **Bordeaux:** protesters ripped boards off a building to make barricades. - **Lyon:** police used tear gas on about 150 people, mostly students, in an off-limits area. - Two people were seriously injured, in **Toulouse** and **Clermont-Ferrand**. About 13,000 people rallied peacefully against the National Rally in **Orleans**. Protests also hit Tirana in Albania and Brussels, while hundreds of soldiers helped keep marchers out of central Milan. Last weekend's unrest led to more than 2,500 arrests, about 1,000 injured police officers and damage the French chambers of commerce estimate at hundreds of millions of euros. *Earlier, Saturday 24 October 2026:* France is deploying about **70,000 police and gendarmes** nationwide for a fresh day of protests on **Saturday 24 October 2026**, Interior Minister **Laurent Nunez** announced, around 20% more than before last weekend's violence, [AFP reported via Dawn](https://www.dawn.com/news/2039459/france-to-deploy-70000-police-for-fresh-weekend-protests). ## Why France is on edge The movement began with **high school students** protesting about conditions in their schools and spread nationwide, fed by anger over the **cost of living**. On **17 October**, the sidelines of the marches saw some of the worst urban violence in years, with looting, burning and ransacking (see our earlier reports on the [record arrests in Paris](/news/world/france-cost-of-living-protests-tear-gas-in-lille-marseille-town-hall-vandalised) and the [night curfews that followed](/news/world/france-curfews-after-riots-paris-nice-and-lyon-impose-night-curfews-as-2500)). Nunez said calls for violence and looting were circulating on social media. Justice Minister **Gerald Darmanin** said courts have sent **217 people to prison** over the 17 October events, half of them first-time offenders. ## Where marches are limited today - **Paris:** police overturned a union march permit for the Bastille to Nation route and offered an afternoon alternative; unions said they would march on the original route anyway. The **Louvre is closed** and the **Art Basel** fair is being cut short. - **Orleans:** 20,000 to 30,000 people are expected to protest against Marine Le Pen's National Rally congress; the gathering is barred from the city centre. - **Lyon:** central areas are off-limits to demonstrators. - **Marseille:** protests are banned except one union march allowed as an exception. President **Emmanuel Macron** called for the utmost severity against "acts of delinquency" and blamed ultra-left groups. Amnesty International said the restrictions show a slide towards authoritarian practice, and Human Rights Watch raised alarm over reports of children badly hurt by crowd-control weapons. ## The politics The unrest comes about six months before France elects Macron's successor. A Harris Interactive poll for M6 and RTL, taken after the violence, put Le Pen first with **33 to 35%** in the first round and winning a run-off against Jean-Luc Melenchon with about 70%. ## For Pakistanis in France Pakistani students and workers in Paris, Lyon and Marseille should avoid march routes, keep ID on them and follow local news, as transport can stop at short notice. Pakistan's embassy in Paris handles consular help. Sending money home? Check today's [euro rate](/data/eur-pkr) first. ## Frequently asked questions **How many police is France deploying for the 24 October protests?** About 70,000 police and gendarmes nationwide, roughly 20% more than before the 17 October violence, according to Interior Minister Laurent Nunez. ## Sources - Almost 1,000 arrested as clashes follow another day of mass protests across France (24 Oct 2026) (BBC News): https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c95ynd587ynzo - France to deploy 70,000 police for fresh weekend protests (Dawn (AFP)): https://www.dawn.com/news/2039459/france-to-deploy-70000-police-for-fresh-weekend-protests - More than 1,000 arrested in France as protesters and police clash (25 Oct 2026) (CBS News): https://www.cbsnews.com/news/paris-france-new-protests-riots-museums-shops/ - Mona Lisa off limits as Paris shuts museums over protest fears (25 Oct 2026) (Business Recorder): https://www.brecorder.com/news/40445860/mona-lisa-off-limits-as-paris-shuts-museums-over-protest-fears How to cite: "France protests: over 1,300 arrested; Louvre, Mona Lisa and Paris Opera shut for the day", Searchable, 25 Oct 2026, https://searchable.pk/news/world/france-deploys-70000-police-for-saturday-protests-as-217-are-jailed-over-riots