Horrific moment French police officer is engulfed in flames after being struck by Molotov cocktail as violent riots sweep across country
A French police officer was engulfed in flames after being struck by a Molotov cocktail as violent riots swept across the country on Saturday.
The officer desperately tried to pat out the flames on a Paris street as colleagues rushed to douse him with a fire extinguisher.
Masked protesters also smashed apart an effigy of Macron, while demonstrators in Paris hurled paving stones at riot police as officers responded with tear gas.
The unrest followed weeks of demonstrations by high school students demanding the equivalent of around £9billion in funding for the education system.
The protests have since grown into a wider movement drawing in groups ranging from trade unions to Black Bloc anarchists.
Footage showed masked protesters standing on a roof above a crowd, smashing apart a cardboard effigy of Macron dangling from a stick.
Fake money stuffed inside its head rained down on those below, while one person could be seen waving a frying pan.
Protesters were also seen using green lasers to dazzle police, while a car was pictured on fire.
Amid the chaos, one protester wandered through the crowds with a traffic cone balanced on his head, while others used hammers to prise up paving stones before hurling them at officers.
A French police officer was engulfed in flames after being struck by a Molotov cocktail as violent riots swept across the country on Saturday
The officer dropped to the ground on a Paris street as colleagues desperately used a fire extinguisher to put out the flames
Masked protesters smashed apart an effigy of Macron and hurled firebombs at police as violent clashes erupted across France on Saturday
Demonstrators clashed with riot police in Paris as a protest march reached its final destination, throwing paving stones as officers responded with tear gas
Protesters were seen stamping on US and Israeli flags before setting them alight
Protesters march during a demonstration against rising living costs in Paris on October 31
A protestor waves a French flag among tear gas smokes while taking part in the nationwide demonstration in Lyon
French police officers patrol ahead of a demonstration on Saturday where disorder is expected
A protester wearing a costume stands next to a burning fire during a demonstration organised by labour unions as part of nationwide protests in Paris
A protester wearing a costume stands next to a burning fire during a demonstration organised by labour unions as part of nationwide protests
A French Gendarme who is partly burning runs in a street as facing protesters at the end of a protest march
A protester wearing a Batman costume looks on during a demonstration in Lyon
A protester wearing a Marie-Antoinette costume holds a placard reading "Give them brioche" as tear gas fills the air during a demonstration in Lyon
The surreal scenes also included a demonstrator dressed as a Lego character in Paris and another wearing a Batman costume in Lyon, alongside police equipped with riot shields.
Separate footage showed Left-wing activists standing on the roof of what appeared to be a bus stop, stamping on US and Israeli flags before setting fire to a Star of David symbol.
Thousands of young people have taken to the streets in France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Albania as police brace for violence on the third weekend of protests.
Around 70,000 police and gendarmes have been deployed across France, while demonstrations in Paris were rerouted to the capital's outskirts.
As evening fell, Molotov cocktails and other projectiles were thrown at officers in east Paris.
'A march in the area passed off peacefully, but there was trouble at the end, close to the city ring road,' a police commander at the scene said.
He added that tear gas and baton charges were used to try and restore order.
Youth-led demonstrations were also reported in Germany and Italy.
French interior minister Laurent Nuñez warned of a 'very high risk' of disorder, especially after dark on Halloween.
Police had arrested thousands of people following riots and looting that marred the largely peaceful protest marches on both October 17 and October 24.
At Porte de Bagnolet, on the eastern edge of Paris, a few thousand people started gathering Saturday afternoon behind a line of students who were set to lead the march hand in hand.
Security agents from the CGT, one of France's largest labor unions, were keeping watch at the front of the gathering, while police were massed in side streets.
Pictured: One protester holds a prop gun while joining three other protesters in Halloween costumes in Paris
Demonstrators carrying banners, flags and various costumes, take part in a protest by the Gilets jaunes (Yellow Vests) movement on at Porte de Bagnolet
A protester wearing a Scream mask holds a placard depicting French president Emmanuel Macron
Protesters throw projectiles at the police during nationwide demonstrations over the rising cost of living and inequality organised by Yellow Vest movement
Protesters stand next to waste bins on fire during an anti-government demonstration in central Tirana, Albania
Pictured: Police stand next to fire in Paris
A person wears a lego costume made with cardboard in tear gas smoke
The marchers' grievances are diverse.
Each group carried its own banner: high school students protesting the university admissions system, climate activists, and people angry about the cost of living.
A few Halloween costumes stood out in the crowd, including a zombie Michael Jackson from Thriller, a pirate and a Spider-Man.
Protesters waited calmly, chanting and singing through megaphones.
Corentin Cabreux, a 21-year-old student, said he lives in a state-run student residence where 'there are damp stains all along the bottom of my walls, whole sections peeling off, cockroaches everywhere, rats'.
He said he hoped Saturday's protest would be festive in honor of Halloween, to counter the image of violence that has attached itself to France's protests.
Police set curfew and other measures to avoid a repeat of violence
The rallies started last month as a movement of high school students protesting neglected buildings, teacher shortages and a university admissions system seen as unfair to disadvantaged students.
Labour unions and others angry at President Emmanuel Macron joined in with a variety of demands.
While the vast majority of protesters have been peaceful, groups of troublemakers routinely target police with fireworks and projectiles.
Some protests have degenerated into rioting and looting – including unrest on October 17 that appeared to take the government by surprise.
Police have responded with tear gas, dispersion grenades, water cannons and other tactics that have resulted in severe injuries.
Mr Macron said that Saturday's marches would stay out of city centers to protect shops.
Police also barred entry to Place de la Republique and Les Halles from 11pm to 6am on Saturday and Sunday.
Unaccompanied minors face a separate 9pm curfew around the Champs-Elysees.
A Paris court on Wednesday suspended an earlier curfew on minors as a serious and illegal infringement of freedom of movement.
Protests are also taking place in Germany, Italy, Spain and Albania.
In Germany, a youth initiative called 'Gen Z regelt' – roughly 'Gen Z's got this' – urged protests in some 30 cities 'for education, health, climate protection and an affordable life', and against any return of military conscription.
Organisers said more than 180,000 people had signed up online.
A protester holds a French flag during nationwide demonstrations over the rising cost of living and inequality
A person wears a Halloween mask while a man speaks on a megaphone behind him on the streets of Paris
Berlin police expected about 10,000 people at the Brandenburg Gate. Some shops on the Kurfuerstendamm boulevard boarded up their windows, although authorities said they were unaware of specific threats of violence.
Protests were expected to begin in the early afternoon.
In Barcelona, Spain, Catalan police planned to activate their highest-level alert after an anonymous TikTok network called Blocus urged new gatherings.
Rioting there last Saturday led to about 130 arrests, mostly of minors.
Italian police were on alert after clashes in Milan, Turin and Bologna, and calls to protest circulated on TikTok in Belgium, the Netherlands, Austria, Switzerland and Portugal.
Meanwhile, in Albania protesters were pictured standing next to waste bins on fire during an anti-government demonstration in central Tirana.
The French have banned Halloween masks during anti-government protests across the country today as they predict yet another horror weekend of intense violence.
At least 4,000 people have been arrested during disturbances over the past month, with hundreds wounded.
On Saturday, French interior minister Laurent Nunez said more rioting, looting and arson was inevitable on a 'high risk' day when 70,000 police and gendarmes would be on the street.
He said 'face-covering masks will not be allowed,' despite the protests coinciding with Halloween, because there was 'a very high risk of public disorder'.
Mr Nunez said police were aware of multiple social media calls for Halloween gatherings urging protesters 'to spark a revolution'.
French gendarmerie officers are pictured in Paris ahead of fresh protests anticipated on Saturday
Police vans are pictured in front of the Arc de Triomphe on the day of a protest organised by labour unions as part of nationwide protests
Two security guards are seen protecting the entrance to a shop for the luxry brand Dior
Many called for people to dress up and gather for 'a night of darkness'.
Police meanwhile banned demonstrations in the centre of many cities including Paris, where a march will take place out on the eastern section of the ring road on Saturday.
Alain Di Crescenzo, the president of France's chamber of commerce, said businesses were 'extremely worried', as many shops boarded up their windows.
'Shopkeepers can't wait for Saturday to be over,' said Mr Di Crescenzo.
'The information we have is that Halloween is not helping matters, because we're going to have people wearing masks.'
The French authorities have acknowledged intelligence failures that enabled earlier clashes, and have attempted to reassert control by restricting demonstrations and imposing curfews.
Left-wing politicians have been accused of stirring up trouble, while they say that paramilitary police units have provoked the crowds.
Jean-Luc Mélenchon, the presidential candidate for the France Unbowed party, said too many tear gas canisters had been fired at peaceful demonstrators.
He claimed: 'It seems that confrontation is the very goal of this public-order strategy. It's pathetic.'
Worker install safeguards on a shop before protests are expected to begin on Saturday
The French authorities have acknowledged intelligence failures that enabled earlier clashes
The boarded-up front window shop of luxury brand Dior on the Champs Elysees Avenue ahead of a protest in Paris
Among those on the streets on Saturday were the infamous Yellow Vests – or Gilets Jaunes – who brought chaos to France at the start of President Emmanuel Macron's time in office.
Opinion polls suggest Marine Le Pen, the far-Right National Rally candidate, could go head-to-head against Mr Mélenchon in the second round of the next presidential election in May.
She is currently appealing against a conviction for embezzling taxpayers' cash from the European Parliament, so could become the first convicted criminal to enter the Élysée Palace.
Mr Macron will be forced to stand down, having served the maximum two terms allowed for a serving head of state in France.