Paris opens attempted-homicide probe into Molotov attack that left a gendarme with second-degree burns

The Paris prosecutor’s office announced on November 1 that it has opened an investigation into a Molotov attack at the end of Saturday’s Paris march, on charges framed as attempted homicide against persons holding public authority. According to prosecutors quoted by AFP, a homemade incendiary device exploded at the feet of a gendarme near Porte de Charenton in eastern Paris, causing second-degree burns; the injury assessment is still under way, and as of Sunday no suspect has been arrested in connection with the incident, with investigators working to identify those responsible.

The attack and the injuries

Prosecutors said explosive devices were thrown at around 15 gendarmes and police officers. Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez condemned what he called an extraordinary level of violence from some rioters on Saturday evening and described the attack as attempted murder. Widely shared images showed flames climbing the gendarme uniform; the officer was reported to have escaped serious injury that would keep him from work, but the second-degree burns reported by prosecutors still await a formal injury assessment.

The scale of Saturday marches

The attack came at the end of France’s third consecutive weekend of nationwide protests. The Interior Ministry estimated turnout at about 320,000 nationwide, including about 70,000 in Paris; by 9 p.m. on Saturday, 565 people had been arrested across the country, including 105 in Paris, where prosecutors reported 89 people in custody. The protests began with student demands over school conditions and the university admissions system and broadened into cost-of-living grievances.

What comes next

Student groups have vowed campus blockades on Tuesday and Thursday, and unions have called a demonstration for November 5, the same week as a planned nationwide rail strike. Whether the prosecutor investigation identifies and arrests suspects will be a key signal for whether tensions escalate further this week.