Mass mobilizations against austerity policies and their effects are not winding down in France. On Saturday, October 17, roughly 800,000 people joined protests across more than 1,700 assembly points, according to union figures – amplifying demands tabled over a month of student protests and demanding urgent action on the cost of living crisis.

In the aftermath of the protests, the government expanded local authorities’ powers to introduce curfews. This led to overnight movement limitation orders introduced in several cities, including central parts of Paris, Lille, Lyon, and Nice. Many of the curfews target young people in particular, reflecting institutional concern about the success of their recent mobilizations.

Over the past weeks, students launched a wave of school strikes and occupations, resisting the erosion of education services under successive neoliberal governments. Their movement drew support from trade unions and progressive political forces, who joined students on the streets to pressure the Lecornu administration to change course and prioritize public services and labor rights over armament. 

Read more: One barricade after another: How protesters marched on the garrisoned heart of India’s capital

Rallies and marches reinforced the student movement’s demands for accessible, equitable higher education, alongside trade unions’ calls for higher wages. 

They also drew links to other historic moments of mobilization, including the struggle for Algeria’s liberation. Many groups taking part echoed the anniversary of the 1961 demonstration that ended in the massacre of hundreds of people protesting for independence.

Police violence continues

Teachers, families, and elected officials also joined, for a practical reason: to shield students from the law enforcement violence unleashed on their mobilization. 

Saturday’s protests were again met with police violence, with officers relying – unsuccessfully – on tear gas and water cannons to disperse crowds. Serious injuries and cases of severe police brutality were reported throughout the day.

After repeated repression, and with neither the government nor President Emmanuel Macron offering credible solutions to protesters’ grievances, protests turned into riots. While those close to social movements emphasized the events were triggered by years of cuts and unimpeded attacks on workers’ rights, the middle and upper classes were indignant.

Macron channeled their reaction in his post-protest speech. He declared those responsible for the looting must be punished, while promising more “dialogue” and offering a mild acknowledgment of people’s concerns over fuel, food, and other essentials. 

“There are people out there who rightfully feel that the price of fuel is too high,” the president said – before shifting responsibility elsewhere. He said rising prices were the result “of what is happening in the Persian Gulf – a war that France was not part of.” 

The speech landed poorly at home and abroad. The Iranian government, for one, has repeatedly called out Macron for applying double standards between protests in West Asia and France, emphasizing that the French president had expressed support for US plans in Iran and that ongoing mobilizations were a logical outcome of the policies he endorsed. 

Students reject Macron’s response

In France, protesters called out Macron for failing – yet again – to identify a concrete way out of the situation facing the country. 

“Since the beginning of this movement, high school and university students have been met with nothing but contempt and police batons in response to their demands,” the university students’ union Union Étudiante wrote. “Yet we have put forward a clear set of demands, widely supported by everyone who took to the streets on October 17.” 

Read more: Madrid teachers and students launch strike to defend public schools

“He did not utter a single word about the high school and university students maimed in the crackdown,” the organization added. “He said nothing at all about the real violence committed on Saturday,” referring to approximately 2,300 arrests made on that day alone – and dozens of young people who were seriously injured over the past weeks.

“It is not a matter of engaging in endless dialogue, but of responding concretely to the needs of high school and university students: income, housing, food services, healthcare, study conditions, access to degrees, and an end to repression.”

Lecornu attempts to blame left for chaos

Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu’s reaction to the protests drew an equally negative response from progressive forces, especially after he suggested left movements were responsible for chaos and violence.

“What a pathetic politician,” wrote presidential candidate Jean-Luc Mélenchon. “He is responsible for the chaos – chaos he methodically prepared, whether through sheer incompetence or a deliberate ‘strategy of the worst’ aimed at conjuring up a ‘party of order’ that would make people forget his failure on the public finances.”

Calls for justice and for the reopening of Nolan Wells’ case are mounting after a grand jury declined to bring criminal charges, despite the question of Wells’ cause of death remaining unanswered.

Wells, a young Black student at Southwest Mississippi Community College, went on a boating trip on July 4 to Horn Island, just off the coast of Mississippi, with several white friends. He never returned.

His friends, who returned to the mainland with Wells’ cell phone but without him, claimed he chose to stay behind. Wells’ body was found in the water near Horn Island two days later.

A state medical examiner declared the 18-year-old’s cause of death “undetermined.” The grand jury, however, claimed that the conditions of his death were “consistent with drowning.” When the autopsy reports were publicly released after the grand jury decision, they revealed that there were two contusions on the back of Wells’ head. The family’s attorney and others have described these injuries as blunt-force trauma, insisting that they do not believe Nolan drowned.

The autopsy also reported a lack of fluid or debris in his airways, and that his stomach was empty.

Read more: Nolan Wells, disputed Black deaths, and the legacy of racial violence in the US

The suspicion and confusion surrounding his death has only been amplified by recently released text messages between various friends of Wells.

Newly released messages between Wells’ friends fuel suspicions and calls for justice

A 292-page report of cell phone messages between Nolan Wells’ friends was released on October 15. In one group chat, the friends that returned to the mainland without Wells appear to be discussing the investigation by authorities.

“Don’t speculate about s— yall.” “Because they can try to get your a–.” “If you talk more,” said one user.

As information about the case became public, sparking calls for answers about Wells’ death, the messages appear to express frustration at the increasing suspicion toward this friend group.

One user said, “small minded individuals who are so full of hate towards themselves that they can’t help but try and push it onto other people.”

Another said, “lay low” “and pray I love yall but we don’t needa be texting ab this.”

In a different groupchat, presumably of several Black friends of Wells, users expressed suspicion toward the group of white friends that came back from Horn Island without Nolan.

“Ts weird af,” said one friend.

“Dem white n—- mane.”

“They did sum wit bra,” said another.

“i lowkey feel like they drugged his ahh assum icl,” said one friend.

“All them white —— was lying ——- was crying otw last night while we was just asking questions,” said another user.

“wtf,” responded another.

Returning to the majority-white group chat of friends that were with Wells on July 4, one user said:

“We need to go to Nolan’s funeral and get with all our other black friends to prove a statement for the media.”

“It would shut everyone down.”

The conversation then turned toward the Wells’ family attorney, Ben Crump, and the Wells’ funeral.

“Whoever paid for the funeral wants it to be some huge thing,” said one friend.

“it’s almost like their brainwashing Nolan’s parents and taking advantage of them while their overwhelmed with grief.” “it’s so evil.”

The group continued to exchange messages expressing frustration at what they described as “racism” being directed towards them by the public as questions around Wells’ death mounted.

An online fundraiser was reportedly set up on behalf of Wells’ white friends, titled “Stand With Nolan Wells’ Targeted Friends,” and included messages like, “Thank you for Standing with The Boys!” The fundraiser received over two hundred thousand dollars to “prosecute cases of defamation” so that “these Boys” can win lawsuits against “fanatical opponents who have unlimited resources.”

As more information comes out about the case, the unanswered questions are boiling over into anger and demands for accountability. A spontaneous movement is now demanding Wells’ case be reopened and investigated thoroughly until justice is served.

Movement for Nolan Wells surges across HBCUs

Following the grand jury decision, spontaneous student walkouts were seen across dozens of historically Black colleges and universities across the South.

“It was clear to us living here seeing the rage around the Nolan Wells case start to come to a boil,” said North Carolina-based organizer with the Party for Socialism and Liberation Prince Williams, speaking to BreakThrough News.

There was a walkout at Atlanta University Center on October 1, another at North Carolina Central October 6, and Prairie View A&M University on October 7. 

After these spontaneous walkouts, students at Jackson State University called a Southern Day of Action on October 15, demanding justice for Nolan Wells. Specifically, they called for the investigation into the death of Nolan Wells to be reopened immediately.

“The call spread like wildfire, especially in North Carolina,” said Williams. “Six schools called walkouts and demonstrations.”

In total, about a dozen schools across five states in the South answered the call from students in Jackson, he said. 

From an institutional perspective, the case is a settled matter after the grand jury decision. But organizers on the ground say the institutional legacy of racism, white supremacy, and Jim Crow, have not been forgotten. And neither has the historical tradition of Black resistance. 

Generations of resistance in the US South

“There has never been a moment in the history of the US where Black Americans could rely on the government to get justice for us,” said Williams.

Instead, he pointed to the countless ancestors who, through relentless struggle, freed themselves from slavery and broke the back of Jim Crow.

“That reality has created a generational responsibility for us to see our own power when we come together on one accord to find justice for ourselves.”

As suspicious deaths of young Black Americans are on the rise, Williams says there is little trust in law enforcement. “About 7 in 10 Black adults say prisons, policing, and the court system were designed to hold Black people back.” The recognition of a highly racist system enforced by these very institutions is widespread, he added. The suspicious deaths we are seeing today are a continuation of a long history, especially in Mississippi, where kidnappings of Black people are “written off as disappearances” and lynchings are ruled “accidental drownings.”

“We must stay vigilant and continue to raise this case in our daily lives with everyone we know.”

National solidarity in the call for justice for Nolan Wells

Organizers urge all students and communities across the United States to support the campaign for justice and accountability.

“Put pressure on local, state, and federal officials to reopen Wells’ case,” said Williams. However, he emphasized that this can’t be done effectively in isolation.

“We need to join organizations of like-minded people that are sustaining these campaigns who can take this movement far beyond the Southern day of Action on October 15.”

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi reiterated that his country’s proposal to end the war with the US and to restart nuclear negotiations is “still on the table,” claiming the Iranian conditions are “completely clear” and “unchanging.”

Talking to Iranian state media on the sidelines of the 52nd session of the Council of Foreign Ministers of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in Baghdad on Sunday, October 18, Araghchi also said that Iran is currently studying the US response to its proposals.

If the US meets its conditions, “the Strait of Hormuz will be reopened on the sixth day, and negotiations will resume on the seventh,” Araghchi said. 

Though Araghchi did not talk about them explicitly, he reiterated that the Iranian conditions are the same as what the US had agreed to under the Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), signed in June.

On several previous occasions Iran has made clear that if the US lifts its naval blockade, releases Iran’s foreign frozen assets, and ends the war on all fronts in the region, it will allow the Strait of Hormuz to open.

As per the MoU, in the first 60 days after the deal took effect both sides were to initiate negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program. However, the MoU expired in August after hostilities were resumed within weeks of its signing.

The US resumed its military strikes on Iran in July, leading the Iranians to reimpose their blockade in the Strait of Hormuz in response, reversing its decision to open it for navigation as per the MoU.

Tehran had claimed that it presented a plan to reopen the Strait to the US in September, in a brief meeting with its delegation during the annual session of the UN General Assembly. However, US President Donald Trump later declared he had rejected the Iranian proposals.

Beware of Israeli provocations

Araghchi also rejected the repeated threats of new strikes and economic isolation against his country, claiming that Iran will not bow to threats and will defend its strategic and economic interests.

Last week it was reported that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is facing a tough election at home, apart from planning to escalate war against Palestinians in the West Bank, also pressured Trump to resume the military strikes on Iran.

Read more: Netanyahu presses Trump to renew aggression on Iran ahead of Israeli elections

On the same day, Trump claimed that the US may attack some specific targets in Iran in order to disrupt its nuclear program. Media reports also claimed that the US is preparing to use the so-called “mother of all bombs” to again target Iran’s energy and nuclear infrastructure.

This is despite the fact that Trump has repeatedly boasted about “obliterating” Iran’s nuclear program during the joint US and Israeli airstrikes in June 2025.

Reacting to those reports, Araghchi warned both the US and Israel to learn from their mistakes and stay away from Iran to avoid consequences more severe than during the earlier wars.

“Last time you wanted to “finish the job” Iran emerged even stronger. Want to try your luck again? Be our guest. But be careful; we have unfinished jobs too,” Araghchi said in a post on X on Monday.

He claimed that Netanyahu is pressing for a fresh war simply because he wants to stay in power and out of jail over corruption charges he has been facing for years now, without thinking about consequences to Israel or the US.

In a similar reaction, the head of the Iranian armed forces Ali Abdollahi also claimed on Sunday that his country was waiting for their [the US and Israel’s] foolish decision and miscalculation. Any attack by them would invite “a response war more severe, distinct, and devastating than in the past,” Abdollahi claimed.

Abdollahi’s warnings were relayed by several other Iranian officials on Sunday.

It is reported that the US has spent billions of dollars in the last eight months of war on Iran. It has lost most of its military infrastructure in the Gulf countries in Iranian responses, with over a dozen of its soldiers killed and several dozen of its aircraft lost. The US also faced a severe shortage of crucial ammunition due to the war on Iran, forcing it to suspend the strikes midway.