Front row seat to protests

While the original protesters have legitimate grievances, the violence is getting out of hand due to the infiltration of outside groups.

What is the provenance of this? I'm reading a lot of comments on this topic from various forum members who state, unequivocally, that the violence, looting and destruction is solely at the hands of outside "provocateurs" and that the students themselves are only protesting peacefully (I'm paraphrasing). Personally I struggle to believe that this is the case and I have no doubt that a good number of the protesting students have become involved in the criminal behaviour.

It seems as if no-one wants to admit that any of the students are involved for some reason.

As smoke is settling, a French expert on protests, participants, violence, broke it down on France Culture Radio this morning. For the violence, there are four groups largely organized via internet:
1. Organized extreme-left anti-capitalists whose targets were government buildings, including the Elysée Palace and Matignon both of which were heavily guarded due to early warnings. These people are trained, carried destructive weapons such as iron bars, very similar to trained January 6 attackers, but this happened in many cities in France.
2. Angry people who dressed in black to participate but have no political affiliation or indoctrination
3. Criminals such as drug trade, etc.
4. Youth who took advantage of the situation to vandalize stores for stuff, name brands, that they wear or will try to sell. They have no political conscious but want stuff. Among these were kids who didn't intend to pillage but got excited at the idea of "free" clothes--and I'm citing what I heard on a video. These kids were from all backgrounds, but there was adolescent anti-France rhetoric from some that I heard on interview videos, but I don’t know who or how these videos were made. Could be political garbage.

It did start as a student protest of conditions and unfair playing field between schools for competitive exams. Since it's now school break so the unions and yellow vests said they would continue their message and add the cost of living due to the Strait of Hormuz situation. All the people dressed in black took advantage of the situation.

Allan didn't see any of this, but according to the French government, 30,000 violent participants were wrecking Marseille, greatly overwhelming the tactical squads. Glad you saw only the peaceful march.

My city had 35,000 peaceful marchers and 2,000 mostly pillaging Footlocker, Courir, Monoprix bakery, and 17 others destroyed. There was some damage to our public buildings. All bank windows were smashed but unbroken.

I don't know about JoLui, but I did my shopping on Friday and stayed home on Saturday. I've spent enough time on this and as Greg says "the end".

I don't know about JoLui, but I did my shopping on Friday and stayed
home on Saturday.

I listened to the same radio show as Elizabeth this morning in the car on my way to get some bread (it's quite a drive).

We're in a small village where there are basically more farm animals than humans, and aside from being sickened by the news, these events have no impact on the daily lives of the vast majority of people. In the nearest town, the Saturday market was completely business as usual, and it was the same in the other nearby towns all day long, so nothing to report.

The Louvre was closed today because protesters blocked the entrance. These "protests" are affecting people.

There is now talk of imposing partial curfews in a number of French towns and cities. The details of which have not been announced other than there is no plan yet to impose a blanket curfew on the whole of Paris so it's not yet clear what impact, if any, that this will have on tourists.

There is now talk of imposing partial curfews in a number of French
towns and cities; the specific details have not yet been announced.

The terms of the partial curfew in Paris have been announced by the Police Prefecture;, the 2 official documents are available below on the Paris Prefecture website (in French):

https://www.prefecturedepolice.interieur.gouv.fr/sites/default/files/Documents/2026_01371_19102026.pdf

https://www.prefecturedepolice.interieur.gouv.fr/sites/default/files/Documents/2026_01372_19102026.pdf

In summary, this curfew currently applies only to specific, restricted areas and is in effect from 11:00 p.m. this Monday evening until 6:00 a.m. Tuesday morning.

As for tourists being affected by any sort of curfew, would that imposition deter one from going to Paris now.? An interesting situation.

Curfew or not be it in Paris or applying to any other French city would not affect my decision at all going France now, likewise with STEP.

The perimeter of the curfew in Paris is very small. Only if your hotel is in the immediate vicinity of Les Halles or République should you consider switching accommodation, if possible (but if you can't, the proof of accommodation should be enough to get you through the police blockade in curfew hours). The main annoyance right now is the helicopter flying overhead at night: loud if you're in top floors, earplugs needed!

Up-to-date information in English regarding curfews and restrictions in Paris is available on the City of Paris website:

https://parisjetaime.com/eng/article/disruptions-to-public-transport-a1079

For those traveling to Normandy tomorrow, note that due to Storm Austen, the SNCF is suspending all train services in Normandy for tomorrow October 23.