On Saturday 17 October 2026, ICI writes that “the Yellow Vests, the high-school students and the unions have launched a general call against the high cost of living” (translated); the Union syndicale des lycéens had called, like several organisations, to join that day the “large demonstration” (translated) of the “yellow vests” (translated) (AFP dispatch of 14 October, picked up by Sud Radio). In Marseille, the mayor says that “the vandals and the looters have spoiled the high-school students’ demands” (translated) (BFMTV).
In the early afternoon, several dozen protesters briefly enter the lobby of the town hall, on the Vieux-Port, after breaking down the door while shouting “It’s the Revolution, we’re taking the Bastille” (translated), as observed by an AFP journalist (franceinfo); law enforcement, positioned in front of the town hall, disperse these protesters (franceinfo, AFP). The franceinfo report (France 2 TV news) speaks of a door forced by hooded individuals then of “more than ten rioters” (translated) who enter and ransack the interior: walls tagged, furniture damaged, bust of Marianne thrown to the ground; the group is dispersed within a few minutes. BFMTV writes, based on the footage shot by its teams, that a bust of Marianne was thrown to the ground, that an anarchist tag was written on a wall and that televisions were broken; the intruders, blocked in the lobby, fled, and there were no injuries.
The mayor tells franceinfo that “a few hundred hooded individuals wandering around the city” (translated) approached the town hall: “There were first tear-gas shots, a lot of smoke, then a movement of CRS who cleared the entrance of the town hall” (translated), through which the intruders rushed in, with “rudimentary” (translated) damage; he tells BFMTV that “the damage is objectively quite limited” (translated). He links this episode to the attack on the municipal police station on the Canebière, which took place earlier in the day (“then they came in front of the town hall” (translated), France 3); the other sources read describe the two events separately. A conference call then brings together the mayor, the President of the Republic, the Prime Minister and the Minister of the Interior, and two additional companies of CRS riot police are deployed in Marseille, says the mayor (BFMTV).
The perpetrators are not identified in the sources read: the mayor speaks of “vandals” (translated) “very far from the protesters” (translated); no specific arrest for this incident is reported.