6:36pm GMT French protesters donned Hallowe’en costumes and threw Molotov cocktails at police officers as street demonstrations turned violent for a third consecutive weekend.

Clowns, witches and pirates marched alongside a Spider-Man, a Frankenstein’s monster and a zombie Michael Jackson, as several thousand demonstrators moved through eastern Paris under a circling police helicopter.

“No need for tear gas to make our future look bleak,” read one placard. Another read: “Dressed up as an angry citizen for Hallowe’en.”At the Porte de Charenton, on Paris’s south-eastern edge, a riot squad was holding back protesters when someone hurled a Molotov cocktail into their ranks, setting several officers on fire and forcing the unit to fall back. Dozens of masked people dressed in black used hammers to pry up paving stones and hurl them at police.

Police officers surrounded by flames after being hit by a Molotov cocktail during a demonstration in south-eastern Paris Authorities, bracing for a repeat of the rioting that erupted two weeks ago, flooded the country with 70,000 security officers and rerouted the Paris march to the outer reaches of the capital.

The interior ministry put the nationwide turnout at around 15,000 by early afternoon, and said the situation remained “generally calm”, with 27 arrests reported by 2pm.

But as night fell in Paris, clouds of smoke and small fires could be seen at several locations, and police fired tear gas to disperse demonstrators.

Clouds of smoke and small fires could be seen at several locations across Paris as night descended on the French capital Nearly half a million people demonstrated across the country, including 200,000 in Paris, according to a coalition of youth organisations and unions representing high-school and university students.

Laurent Nuñez, the interior minister, pointed to an “extraordinary” level of violence from some, blaming far-Left extremist groups for attacks on security forces, and said Hallowe’en was not an excuse to break the law.

He described the throwing of a Molotov cocktail at a riot police officer in Paris as an “attempted murder,” adding that the officer had escaped with minor injuries. “We are fully prepared for those looking for confrontation tonight,” he added Covering one’s face at a protest with intent to disrupt public order remains an offence, punishable by a €150 (£125) fine. Police said that children in costume would not be treated as suspects.

A protester wearing a mask holds a sign criticising Emmanuel Macron during a demonstration at Porte de Bagnolet in Paris Authorities imposed overnight curfews in the Place de la République and Les Halles districts from 11pm to 6am, and closed more than 40 metro and suburban stations close to government buildings and landmarks. In preparation for the marches, shopkeepers across the country boarded up their storefronts.

“Behind these boards, there is neither power nor an enemy. Just a family and its work,” read a message scrawled on plywood covering one Paris business. Police said they arrested more than 290 people across the country on Saturday.

“The marches proceeded smoothly within the framework of the declared demonstrations,” the ministry said, while noting that “radical elements” in several cities, including Bordeaux, Toulouse and Marseille, had attempted to enter city centres “with the aim of carrying out vandalism and looting”.

The Hallowe’en theme proved popular with demonstrators as France’s interior minister said it was not an excuse to break the law The unrest is part of a wider wave of youth-led protests sweeping Europe.

In Germany, a movement calling itself “Gen Z regelt” – which translates roughly as “Gen Z’s got this” – rallied in some 34 cities, including Berlin, Frankfurt and Munich, demanding greater investment in education, health and climate protection, and opposing any return of military conscription.

Nearly half a million people are reported to have demonstrated across the country, including 200,000 in Paris Organisers said more than 180,000 people had registered online, though only several thousand had turned out by Saturday afternoon. At Berlin’s Brandenburg Gate, students pressed for more spending on schools and housing.

“At my school, the ceiling is collapsing because of water damage, nothing is being done about it, we have a shortage of teachers, the toilets are broken,” said Janelle Schultz, a high-school student.

A protester launches a tear-gas canister towards French police officers at the end of a protest march in Paris Similar gatherings or alerts were reported in Italy, Albania, the Netherlands and Spain.

France’s protests began last month with high-school students protesting about dilapidated buildings, teacher shortages, and a university admissions system that is regarded as unfair to poorer students.

It has since drawn in “yellow vest” activists, trade unions, and others angry at Emmanuel Macron, the French president, and has broadened its demands to include the protection of civil liberties and the right to protest, after a security clampdown left some demonstrators seriously injured.

Some of those who took part dressed as characters from video games Authorities counted about 550,000 marchers on Oct 17, when looting and arson caught the government off guard, and 410,000 the following Saturday, when police still made more than 1,300 arrests.

Jean-Luc Mélenchon, the hard-Left presidential candidate, who has accused the country’s government of “taking an increasingly authoritarian turn”, joined the march in Paris.

Student unions vowed to blockade schools and universities on Tuesday and Thursday before a union-backed demonstration on Nov 5.

Comic-book characters such as the Joker were among a variety of costumes seen as several thousand demonstrators moved through eastern Paris The protests come as the presidential elections are less than six months away and Marine Le Pen, the far-Right leader, is leading the polls.

With the eurozone’s second-largest economy on the brink of recession and under pressure to curb its debt, the French government has little room to placate protesters with new spending.

Mr Macron said this week that it was “not normal” for France to be in such “turmoil” so close to an election.