24 hours in pictures: French school protests, Johannesburg power crackdown and a King Kong pumpkin display

We bring you a visual snapshot of the day’s news events, featuring protesters clashing with police during demonstrations over education conditions in France, City Power officials targeting suspected hijacked buildings in Johannesburg’s inner city as part of a revenue collection drive, and a giant King Kong-inspired sculpture towering over a pumpkin patch in California. These are some of the compelling images from South Africa and around the world.

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Tear gas is thrown during protest against current education conditions disrupt classes across the country in Nancy, France on October 5, 2026. Demonstrators pushed for expanded resources, improved school maintenance, smaller class sizes, and strategies to tackle staffing shortages. The countrywide action disrupted learning at roughly 400 to 500 high schools, which experienced full or partial class suspensions. (Photo by Muhammed Said Tako/Anadolu via Getty Images)

City Power officials target several suspected hijacked buildings in inner city revenue collection drive on October 05, 2026 in Johannesburg, South Africa. The operation is aimed at ensuring that customers settle their outstanding accounts, enabling the entity to recover the revenue required to support electricity infrastructure investment, maintenance and the continued provision of reliable electricity services. (Photo by Gallo Images/Sharon Seretlo)

A monument of the Soviet Union founder Vladimir Lenin sits in front of a damaged business centre following an overnight attack, which local Russian-installed officials called a Ukrainian drone strike, in Donetsk, Russian-controlled Ukraine, on October 5, 2026, amid the ongoing Russian-Ukrainian conflict. (Photo by AFP)

A model walks the runway for Kai Baptiste during the World Fashion Expo showcase at Paris Fashion Week Womenswear Spring/Summer 2027 at the Hotel Marriott Marquis on October 4, 2026 in Paris, France. (Photo by Denise Belyea/Getty Images for World Fashion Expo)

Pelicans take a break during their migration at Godet Dam near Derekoy village in Karaman, Turkiye, on October 04, 2026. The reservoir offers the migrating birds a place to rest and feed. (Photo by Omer Tarsuslu/Anadolu via Getty Images)

Human rights lawyer and former Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) commissioner Yasmin Sooka testifies at the Khampepe Commission in Johannesburg, 5 October 2026, addressing questions about historical decisions, political interference and institutional gaps that contributed to decades of delays in prosecuting apartheid-era crimes. Picture: Nigel Sibanda/The Citizen

This photograph shows the bed of Lake Brenets (Lac des Brenets), priorly parched and now covered in grass, and a part of the Doubs River forming a natural border between eastern France and western Switzerland, in Les Brenets, on September 25, 2026. The river has dried up due to a combination of factors, including geological fissures that drain water underground, below-average rainfall and repeated heatwaves. The river could soon surpass the drought record set in 1906. (Photo by Fabrice COFFRINI / AFP)

Participants form a ‘castell’ (human tower) during the 30th Castells Competition in Tarragona on October 4, 2026. The ‘Castells’ (castles) human towers, traditionally built during festivals in Catalonia, bring together teams attempting to construct and dismantle the tallest human tower. (Photo by Josep LAGO / AFP)

A giant King Kong-inspired sculpture is displayed at the Spina Farms Pumpkin Patch as visitors explore the seasonal attractions in Morgan Hill, California, United States on October 04, 2026. The towering themed statues, set alongside vast fields of pumpkins, drew significant attention from families and children gathering to celebrate the autumn harvest and upcoming Halloween festivities. (Photo by Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu via Getty Images)

Vehicles drive along a busy road during the evening peak hour in Tehran on October 4, 2026. (Photo by ATTA KENARE / AFP)

A man carrying a child walks along the Ampera Bridge in Palembang, South Sumatra on October 5, 2026, as haze from forest and land fires in the region blankets the sky and surrounding areas. For weeks, Indonesia has been battling fires that have burned vast swathes of forest and peat ecosystems, causing toxic haze to blanket parts of the country, Malaysia and Singapore. (Photo by AL ZULKIFLI / AFP)

Two indigenous men take a rest in front a mural of the Virgin of Sorrows on the streets of Santa Maria de Jesus on September 30, 2026. The murals are part of “”A New Air for Santa Maria de Jesus” an initiative that seeks to restore deteriorated spaces and strengthen the identity of this community through art. (Photo by Johan ORDONEZ / AFP)

Pilgrims rest inside the Basilica of Our Lady of Lujan during the 52nd annual pilgrimage in Lujan, Buenos Aires province, Argentina, on October 4, 2026. Hundreds of thousands of faithful are taking part in the traditional pilgrimage on foot from Buenos Aires to the Basilica of Lujan which Pope Leo XIV is scheduled to visit on November 11 during his apostolic trip to Argentina. (Photo by TOMAS CUESTA / AFP)

Performers take part in a traditional fish dance during events for the Golden Week holiday on October 5, 2026 at Ritan Park in Beijing, China. The golden week holiday, began with China’s National Day on October 1st and lasts until October 7th. (Photo by Kevin Frayer/Getty Images)

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