First convictions issued for violence during Paris Oct 17 protest

In the first court decisions linked to the massive Oct 17 protest in Paris, French judges sentenced two detainees under a fast-track procedure. A 21-year-old chef and former firefighter received an eight-month prison sentence, with two months to be served, after investigators uncovered eight bottles of alcohol in his bag and video evidence of him preparing Molotov cocktails the day before the rally. A 23-year-old security guard was handed a one-year suspended sentence, along with a one-year prohibition on possessing weapons or taking part in demonstrations, for deploying pyrotechnics against a police officer on the Champs-Élysées.

Neither man had a criminal record. The convictions come after the protest, which began with secondary-school students in the Paris suburbs and expanded to include those angry about rising prices, escalated into riots, looting of luxury boutiques and widespread vandalism across Paris and Marseille, with the Interior Ministry estimating roughly 550,000 participants.