More than 400,000 protest across France

Paris: Clashes erupted in Paris as a mass march drew to a close Saturday, with more than 400,000 people rallying across France over school funding and soaring living costs in a fresh challenge to President Emmanuel Macron's government.The Paris march began peacefully, a week after widespread rioting and looting during protests across the country. Near its endpoint at Porte de Vincennes, some protesters threw projectiles while police fired volleys of tear gas and used water cannons to disperse people.The Interior Ministry put nationwide turnout at 410,000, while the CGT union estimated nearly 800,000. The ministry's estimate included 110,000 in Paris, where authorities had confined the march to the city's southeastern edge, away from the center.Read more: Thousands march in France over schools and living costs as police use tear gasElsewhere in France, police used tear gas in Lyon, Clermont-Ferrand and Strasbourg and water cannons in Nice and Nantes, French media reported. In Marseille, officers fired tear gas during clashes with several dozen people near the march's endpoint.The Paris prosecutor's office said 64 people had been arrested in connection with Saturday's demonstration and 40 placed in police custody. Those arrested included six minors. Most arrests concerned suspected weapons offenses or participation in a group preparing violence or property damage, the office said.The unrest is testing Macron's authority in the final months of his presidency before voters choose his successor in May. The stakes are high: the far-right National Rally has accused his government of failing to protect the public and urged people to channel their anger into votes for them.Read more: ‘France’s protests increased polarisation — and helped the far-right’Interior Minister Laurent Nunez had announced a nationwide deployment of up to 70,000 officers, backed by helicopters, armored vehicles and water cannons.Trade unions led the procession, followed by protesters in raincoats carrying flags and handmade placards.Camille Chesnier, 27, said she had been unable to find work despite having an engineering degree and a master's degree."There are enormous numbers of people in the same situation as me but who aren't privileged and who find themselves living on the streets and in squats and, frankly, it's very tough," she said.A small protest became a national movementWhat began last month as a protest over staff shortages at one high school southeast of Paris has spread nationwide, drawing students demanding better schools and workers seeking higher wages and pensions.In Paris, Benedicte Pittion, a 46-year-old teacher, marched through steady rain with her 16-year-old daughter, Garance, a high school student. Both had supported the movement from the start, but this was their first protest together."The young people who have been demonstrating have not been heard, and as a parent and as a teacher, I stand with them," Pittion said.Garance said she had been "really scared" to attend after seeing images of last weekend's violence, but argued that staying away would hand the government a victory.Public middle and high schools lost 15.4 million teaching hours in the 2024-25 school year because absent teachers were not replaced, according to Education Ministry figures. That amounted to 7.5% of scheduled teaching time.Macron met high school representatives Friday. They said he had promised to overhaul university admissions, but called for protests to continue until concrete measures are announced.Organizers from the "yellow vest" protest movement called for another day of rallies Oct. 31 to defend the right to demonstrate.Some protests were bannedSoumaya Abed, a 58-year-old nurse wearing a red CGT union vest, said she had been joining protests for more than 30 years, but had never seen one start at Porte d'Italie, on the capital's outskirts."They are using what happened last week as an excuse to quiet protesters," she said. "But it won't stop the movement. It won't stop students from demanding better conditions in schools."In Marseille, police put attendance at 17,000, while the CGT union estimated 100,000. In the southwestern city of Toulouse, 26,500 people joined the protests, according to authorities. Authorities had banned rallies in cities including Lyon, Nice and Montpellier.Trade unions have criticized the bans, calling them violations of freedom of expression, which is protected by the constitution.Thousands also marched Saturday in Orleans, south of Paris, in a separate peaceful protest against the far right as Marine Le Pen's National Rally held a two-day congress in the city.Macron, a centrist, has entered the crisis in the final stretches of his term with his popularity at its lowest since he took office in 2017. He has said that the measures are needed to protect city centers, businesses and public buildings.Nunez acknowledged Monday that police had lost control in some cities during last weekend's unrest, when more than…