Protests across France draw about 320,000, with clashes in Paris, Lyon and Toulouse

About 320,000 people took part in rallies across France on 31 October, according to the Interior Ministry, The Guardian reported. That is fewer than the estimated 410,000 who protested the previous weekend, and the day ended with police and rioters clashing in several cities.

Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez said that about 150 planned demonstrations around the country passed off peacefully. The trouble came mostly in the evening, when police in several cities fired teargas and stun grenades, a type of explosive device that makes a loud bang and flash, to disperse crowds that masked rioters had joined.

In Paris, the police prefecture said a hardcore of several hundred rioters attacked officers with projectiles. Four police officers and one gendarme were injured in the capital. A riot police officer was hit by a Molotov cocktail, an incendiary bottle, and Nuñez described the attack as attempted murder. In Lyon, protesters threw projectiles at police, who responded with teargas.

Around 70,000 police and gendarmes, the national force that works alongside the police, including elite units, were deployed for the day. Police arrested 565 people across France, the Interior Ministry said.

The Paris march ran from Porte de Bagnolet to Porte de Charenton on the city's south-eastern edge, avoiding the centre. The Interior Ministry put the number of marchers in the capital at about 70,000. In Toulouse, police used water cannon against an unauthorised protest that drew several thousand people, most of them young.

The marches brought together school students, trade unions and the gilets jaunes, or yellow vests, a protest movement. Their grievances included the cost of living, widening inequalities and the government of President Emmanuel Macron. Many participants wore Halloween costumes, and some dressed as clowns and witches, while brass bands played along the routes.

The protests were the third consecutive weekend of demonstrations in France. Rioting had already broken out in cities across the country on 17 October during rallies against rising living costs. Protest groups had called for further rallies, and a nationwide strike has been scheduled for 5 November.