France marches for a fourth weekend over living costs, and the crowds now matter for April’s presidential race

France’s protests over the rising cost of living went into a fourth consecutive weekend on Saturday 7 November, with marches in Paris and cities across the country and about 70,000 police and security personnel on duty.

The Interior Ministry put the national turnout at about 146,000, including 46,000 in Paris. Unions said about 250,000 people marched, 75,000 of them in the capital. Turnout was down on earlier weekends.

The Paris march was largely peaceful until it wound down. Police then fired tear gas at protesters who stayed on at Place de la Nation, saying some had thrown projectiles and homemade fireworks at officers. Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez, who had warned that authorities would be “ready and waiting” for rioters and looters, said 232 people had been arrested by 6pm.

What are people protesting about?

The movement started in September over crowded classrooms and a lack of resources in French high schools. It has since widened into a broader revolt over living standards, with fuel prices, wages and the cost of everyday goods at its centre. High school and university students still lead it, but people of all ages now march, from teenagers to railway workers.

Energy costs are a big part of the anger. The war in the Middle East has pushed up oil prices worldwide, and French motorists have felt it at the pump.

Who is organising it?

Unions and student groups organised Saturday’s main marches. The Yellow Vests, the movement behind France’s fuel-tax revolt in 2018 and 2019, refused to join them and instead called for “mass disobedience”. Paris police banned the Yellow Vests’ planned rally at Place de la Concorde, citing the risk to public order; around 100 people gathered there anyway and were surrounded by riot police.

The larger show of strength came two days earlier. On Thursday 5 November, unions staged what was described as the biggest day of protest in France in years: 575,000 people by the authorities’ count, close to 1.6 million by the unions’.

Why does this matter beyond France?

France is the European Union’s second-largest economy, and its streets have a habit of setting the political weather. The 2018 Yellow Vests protests forced Macron to scrap a fuel tax rise and spend billions on concessions.

This time the stakes run to the presidency. Macron cannot stand again, and the election is due in April. Polls put Marine Le Pen’s National Rally first and Jean-Luc Mélenchon’s France Unbowed second, both outsiders promising to break with the Macron years. On Saturday, Mélenchon unveiled his program to about 17,000 supporters and promised to do the opposite of the outgoing president.

A contest between the far right and the far left in one of the EU’s founding members would unsettle markets and Europe’s response to the war in Ukraine alike. For Australians, France is also a key partner in the Pacific and a major tourist destination; anyone travelling to Paris or other French cities should expect weekend marches, transport disruption and road closures to continue.

Is the movement fading?

The smaller turnout on Saturday suggests weekend marches may be losing some steam, but the unions say they feel momentum, and student and teacher groups have already called another strike for Tuesday. Their joint statement said the movement was in a position of strength and the government was weakened.