Police used tear gas and a water cannon to disperse crowds in Paris after tens of thousands of people marched on Saturday to protest the high cost of living and insufficient school funding.

This mirrored tensions in other French cities including Lyon and Bordeaux. In Grenoble, close to 400 masked individuals dressed in black attacked security personnel and property, according to regional authorities.

About 110,000 protesters took part in the procession in the capital and some 410,000 joined protests nationwide, the Interior Ministry said, indicating turnout below that of last weekend. Many held union flags and placards criticizing the police and the government of President Emmanuel Macron. Student groups and labor unions have called for more demonstrations until the government abandons its budget plan and boosts spending on public services.

As the march reached its end in the rain on the eastern side of Paris, a number of groups — often wearing black helmets or hoodies, goggles and face masks — squared off with police.

In Nantes, in western France, police used a water cannon to stop individuals from entering a location where protests were banned.

The French government said earlier that it planned to deploy 70,000 security officials, including elite anti-terror forces, after being caught flat-footed a week ago, when nationwide demonstrations drew more than half a million people and descended into violence and looting. Rioters attacked public buildings and broke into stores across the country, including in the capital, as well as fighting with police and setting fire to cars.

“We will remain extremely focused, and I say again in no uncertain terms: We will not tolerate any unrest or any breach of public order,” Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said earlier on Saturday.

Authorities in Paris restricted Saturday’s main march to the southeastern edge of the city, between Porte d’Italie and Porte de Vincennes, avoiding more traditional routes through the center.

Police with loudspeakers earlier ordered people to clear the Place de la Bastille, known as the birthplace of the French Revolution in 1789, from where the demonstration had previously been planned to kick off.

Shops in Paris, including many luxury boutiques, boarded up windows and hired additional security personnel, and some will remain shut for now. Three popular attractions — the Louvre, Musee d’Orsay and the Picasso Museum — were closed on Saturday, and a scheduled football match between Paris Saint-Germain and Olympique Lyonnais in Paris was postponed.

Parts of Paris were operating as normal on Saturday, though. A “Hail Mary” event was held by the city and the National Football League along the Seine River by Notre-Dame cathedral ahead of Sunday’s New Orleans-Pittsburgh match. Fans on river tour boats sailed past, waving gold pompoms over their heads and wearing black jerseys, the uniform colors of both teams. The city’s iconic Eiffel Tower was also open for business.

Soldiers were helping to guard sensitive buildings. Helicopters and armored vehicles known as Centaurs were also made available if needed. Some cities, including Lyon, banned protests on Saturday and extended curfews.

Macron on Thursday acknowledged “planning failings and elements of surprise” behind last weekend’s events. The French leader, who’s postponed a tour across West Africa planned for next week, blamed ultra-left groups for what he called seditious acts.

There are indications on social media that hooligans plan to converge on France’s capital this Saturday and next, according to Paris Mayor Emmanuel Grégoire.

“We’re preparing for a long-term situation, over several weeks,” he told Le Parisien newspaper, estimating that the cost to city hall could reach into the tens of millions of euros.

Backed by a disparate group of social media figures, students, unions and left-wing parties, Saturday’s demonstrations are framed as an “Acte II,” or second round, of the protest movement. Much of the anger is targeted at Macron, whose popularity has slumped six months before the end of his second term.

The movement still has majority support among the public, according to a Cluster 17 poll of 3,000 adults for L’Opinion carried out Oct. 19-22, although it’s backing has fallen by 4 points, to 53%. At the same time, 59% of those interviewed want it to end quickly, up 6 points, as worries increase about the economic and social fallout.

Surveys show the violence has benefited far-right candidate Marine Le Pen, front-runner for April’s presidential election. She convened supporters in Orléans on Saturday for her National Rally party’s congress, while thousands of her opponents, including leftist and union leaders, held a protest march in the central French city.

An Ipsos-BVA-Cési École d’ingénieurs poll for Le Parisien published on Saturday showed that while Le Pen is still firmly in the lead, the far-left France Unbowed leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon has also received a boost from the unrest and stands in second place, ahead of various centrist competitors. The survey of 1,500 adults was taken online on Oct. 21-22.

Fiscal fears

The unrest has increased fears about public finances. While France dodged a downgrade by Moody’s Ratings late Friday, it’s struggling to reduce the budget deficit ahead of the 2027 election.

A closely watched gauge of bond risk rose to levels last seen during the euro-area debt crisis: The spread between 10-year yields in France and Germany, the region’s safe asset, reached 178 basis points on Thursday, compared with just 85 basis points at the start of September.

Private-sector economic activity also shrank this month, with the Composite Purchasing Managers’ Index compiled by S&P Global dropping to 48.4 in October from 51.1 last month. That’s under the 50 threshold separating expansion from contraction.

Hints at the impact continue to develop. On Saturday, the chief executive officer of Breitling said the Swiss luxury watch brand was bracing for a hit to holiday-season sales as tourists stay away from Paris.

France isn’t the only European country dealing with popular unrest. In Italy, demonstrations by students and other youth are expected in Milan and Rome over the weekend. The government has said it will deploy military forces in Milan after looting and rioting there last weekend.

Protests are also expected in Belgium, while Albania is grappling with weeks of student-led demonstrations, which have turned violent at times, fueled by discontent with Prime Minister Edi Rama’s rule.

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(With assistance from Samy Adghirni.)

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