Musicians told police they would play

The orchestra teargas episode in Paris began with an invitation. On Saturday, Jarrier called on musicians to come to Place de la République, the starting point for an official demonstration by high-school students protesting a failing and unjust education system, and by unions angry at the government. He asked anyone with an instrument who wanted to play to arrive before the official protest march set off at 1pm.

The response was substantial:

• Between 400 and 500 musicians gathered in the square.
• Orchestra members alerted the CRS riot police in advance that they would be present and performing.
• According to Jarrier, the police said they would warn the orchestra before charging or gassing the square. "We asked them to let us know if they plan to charge or gas the square, and they said they would warn us," he said.

Canisters, fires and 20 minutes of gas

When riot police encircled the square and lobbed teargas canisters to disperse demonstrators, the orchestra played on. Jarrier only ordered his musicians to stop once he noticed they were being directly targeted.

"There were teargas canisters landing in the double bass and music stand cases, and starting fires the musicians had to stamp out," he said.

Jarrier said that even when the square was empty all around the orchestra, the CRS kept gassing them, and after about 20 minutes the musicians had no choice but to stop playing. He described the musicians as "stunned" and "truly shocked", saying it was scary because they had been reassured the police would not gas peaceful players. As the musicians packed away their instruments, the orchestra's security volunteers formed a human chain between the musicians and the police.

The activist orchestra behind the music

The ensemble at the centre of the incident is the Orchestre du Nouveau Monde (ONM), a Paris-based group co-founded by Jarrier in 2022. It is made up of hundreds of young professional and amateur musicians, all volunteers.

The orchestra's musical activism covers several causes:

• It blends classical music with activism focused on social and climate justice, and aims to widen classical music's audience beyond its traditional following.
• It describes itself as "anti-racist, anti-capitalist, feminist, environmentalist and committed to de-growth".
• In 2022 it played at the foot of a melting Alpine glacier.
• In 2024 it performed outside the far-right Rassemblement National headquarters a parody of an anthem popular with Marshal Pétain's Vichy regime.
• Last year it greeted RN leader Marine Le Pen outside a television station by playing the EU anthem, Beethoven's Ode to Joy.

For the recent protests, the repertoire included The Hanging Tree from The Hunger Games and the theme from Marvel's The Avengers. Jarrier described the day at Place de la République as "a convergence of struggles", saying the politically engaged orchestra's presence was necessary.

'An alarm signal'

Jarrier criticised the government's response to the protests. "It's an extremely serious shift in maintaining order; the [government] is not listening to demands and is responding not with politics but police," he said, arguing that the approach diverts attention from a legitimate movement demanding better public services.

Photographs of Saturday's protest show the 25-year-old conductor at work against the backdrop of the 10-metre high bronze monument of Marianne, symbol of the French republic, and a dense white cloud of teargas. The CRS, nicknamed Robocops, have been widely criticised for aggressive policing of recent demonstrations, including stun grenades, flash-balls, baton charges and teargas, yet appeared unable to stop looters.

"We are not the martyrs, but the image of an orchestra being gassed should be an alarm signal," Jarrier said.

The French Ministry of Defence and the Paris police prefecture were asked to comment on the use of teargas at Place de la République but did not respond.