'Night of darkness': French police ready to hunt down masked protesters on Halloween night

Show caption: Masks are banned at protests in France. Reuters

Some 3,000 business owners have suffered damage since protests began

France's Interior Minister Laurent Nunez has warned that police will hunt down masked protesters as the country braces for fresh protests on Saturday, which coincides with Halloween celebrations.

Some 70,000 security personnel will be deployed across France, the same number as last week, when protests were more contained than the violent clashes and looting that occurred on October 17.

The government will again ban protests in city centres to try to avert a repetition of the wide-scale October 17 pillaging, which has left many shops reliant on zero-interest loans from the state to rebuild after losing everything.

However, this weekend's protests are expected to be different from the previous ones because they will last longer into the evening, Mr Nunez has warned.

He highlighted social media posts calling for gatherings in public squares at around 8pm local time on Saturday. Among such calls that have caused concern among police forces were phrases such as “night of darkness”, “emerging from the shadows”, and “revolution”, Mr Nunez said.

Show caption: France's Interior Minister Laurent Nunez has said police wil…

While Mr Nunez said he understood that people will “dress up in costumes” because of the festivities, he warned that covering one's face in the street has been banned in France since 2010 and that doing so during a violent protest is an offence punishable by a year in prison and a €15,000 fine.

“Halloween night will not be a legitimate reason to conceal one’s face in a public space for the purpose of disturbing public order – let that be clear – and we have issued instructions to this effect to all of our personnel,” Mr Nunez said at a press conference.

Alain Di Crescenzo, the president of CCI France, the national body that federation of all chambers of commerce and industry across the country, told the radio station France Inter on Friday that Halloween would “make things worse”.

Some 3,000 business owners have suffered damage since the start of the protest movement in mid-September, and “Halloween is heightening their concerns,” Mr Di Crescenzo said. “I’m telling you, we can’t wait for this Saturday to be over,” he added.

Updated:

October 30, 2026, 11:54 AM