French protests draw 410,000 as police ban marches in major cities

Hundreds of thousands of people across France marched Saturday in a second wave of mass protests against deteriorating school conditions and the rising cost of living, with authorities reporting 410,000 participants nationwide and deploying over 70,000 police officers amid heightened security. The Interior Ministry said 110,000 marched in Paris, while the CGT union claimed nearly double those figures. Authorities banned several planned marches in major cities, including the originally negotiated central Paris route, triggering an uproar from rights groups. Police arrested nearly 1,000 people nationwide, and clashes occurred in Paris, Lyon, and Marseille, though violence was less severe than last weekend's demonstrations. The protests began in mid-September over school conditions and have expanded into broader discontent with inequality and President Emmanuel Macron's leadership. Macron met student representatives Friday but failed to defuse tensions. The unrest comes six months before a presidential election, with far-right leader Marine Le Pen leading polls and holding her party congress this weekend.