France deploys armoured vehicles against cost-of-living protests, Centaure truck parked behind National Assembly as unions march through Paris, Moody's keeps Aa3 as riots deepen uncertainty over deficit cuts

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Protesters holding signs and the tricolour march against rising living costs in Paris, Saturday, Oct. 24, 2026. Photograph: Thibault Camus/AP theguardian.com

France deploys Centaure armoured vehicles euronews.com

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French police deployed Centaure armoured vehicles in Paris and Marseille on Saturday as thousands marched against rising living costs, among protests held across Europe on the same day. The Paris march, organised by the CGT, CFDT, FSU and Solidaires unions in support of student federations, filled a 1.5km route from Porte d'Italie to Porte de Vincennes; metro trains heading to the starting point in the 13th arrondissement were packed. In Marseille, security forces patrolled the streets accompanied by armoured vehicles and a water cannon.

The hardware follows a weekend of clashes, looting and arson in several French cities. The unrest began on October 17 as protests over underfunded schools and widened into cost-of-living demonstrations and riots; Saturday's crowd in Paris mixed students, families, office workers and retirees under union banners and the tricolour. One armoured vehicle was stationed behind the National Assembly.

Moody's left France's sovereign rating at Aa3 with a negative outlook on Friday, disappointing expectations of another downgrade. The decision assumes a deficit-reducing 2027 budget passes parliament and that financing costs and social tensions moderate over the coming months. Behind that assumption sit a deficit expected to remain around 5.4 percent of GDP this year, public debt near 119 percent of GDP, and more than a trillion dollars of debt maturities falling due by 2030 — with each refinancing priced at prevailing market rates as older debt rolls over.

The agency described the social tensions as one expression of the political instability that could weaken France's credit metrics faster than expected, while judging that the riots, by themselves, did not determine the rating. The decision forms a test for Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu's government, which must now steer a deficit-cutting budget through parliament while armoured vehicles patrol its city centres. Investors, Moody's noted, will assess whether the 2027 budget's measures are credible, whether parliament adopts them, and whether implementation produces lasting reductions.

In Paris, one of the Centaures was parked behind the National Assembly — the building where that budget must pass.