France deployed 70,000 police officers to contain nationwide protests on 24 October. The government increased its security presence by 10,000 more police and gendarmes compared to the deployment on 17 October.
Interior Minister Laurent Nunez stated, "We have to be ultra, ultra responsive," as authorities managed the unrest. By early afternoon on 24 October, police had arrested 135 people across the country.
Authorities closed more than 20 metro stations in Paris and shut the Louvre, the Musee d’Orsay, and the Paris Opera for the day. Soldiers were dispatched to patrol the Champs-Elysees while police fired tear gas in Clermont-Ferrand, Grenoble, Lille, and Nice.
A water cannon was deployed in Nice as clashes broke out between hooded youths and police in Marseille and Lyon. The first authorised march on 24 October passed off peacefully in Orléans, a city located around 120 km (75 miles) south of Paris.
Jean-Luc Melenchon said, "Given the current situation, I think he will come to understand that this will happen again every week. There is still time for (Macron) to give in. After that, the only thing left to him will be the exit door." Bally Bagayoko said, "We have come to tell the far right, face-to-face, that we are not afraid."
