Thousands of people marched in Paris and other French cities Saturday, some in witch and clown costumes, as France saw a third straight weekend of protests over living costs and education. About 70,000 police and gendarmes were on duty across the country.
By early afternoon, the Interior Ministry put nationwide turnout at about 15,000 and said the situation was generally calm. Police had made 27 arrests by 2 p.m. A week ago, they made 217.
The government had braced for worse. Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez said Thursday that Oct. 31 posed "a very high risk" to public order, Reuters reported. He pointed to calls by radical groups on social media for violent gatherings and said the evening, after the main marches end, worried him most.
Authorities also found online messages urging people to gather on Halloween night and start a "revolution," France 24 reported. Nuñez warned that Halloween would not be accepted as an excuse to cover one's face, according to Al Jazeera.
Paris police banned union and yellow vest marches from the city center and moved them to the outer boulevards, The Associated Press reported. Unions and student groups challenged the ban in court. Saturday's approved route ran through a working-class residential area on the edge of the capital.
The yellow vest movement and student unions called the protests. The first weekend, Oct. 17, ended with looting and vandalism in many cities. Last Saturday, about 410,000 people marched nationwide by the ministry's count. Unions said the real number was about twice that.
Alain Di Crescenzo, president of France's chamber of commerce, told France Inter that shopkeepers just wanted Saturday to be over.