France Deploys About 70,000 Police Ahead of Saturday Protests
France is deploying about 70,000 police across the country on Saturday to prevent further civil unrest, after street violence broke out on the fringes of cost-of-living protests last weekend. The Guardian reported the plan, which the government set out on Friday.
Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez said the security forces would include elite units normally used for counter-terrorism operations and hostage rescues. The Saturday operation will also use water cannon, armoured vehicles, mounted police, helicopters and drones. The number of officers is roughly 10,000 more than were deployed the previous weekend, according to Al Jazeera. Earlier, the government had said it planned to reinforce police with troops for the further protests.
The current measures follow the weekend of 17 October. Demonstrations that were largely peaceful, according to reports, were overtaken by rioters, who set off violence and extensive looting in Paris, Marseille, Lyon and other cities. The Interior Ministry said massive, highly mobile groups attacked seats of power, looted numerous shops and violently attacked security forces in many cities. In Limoges, the town hall was set on fire and partly destroyed. The government admitted it "lost control" over the rioting.
Nuñez said there had been social media calls for violence from "ultra-left" groups ahead of Saturday's protests. After a meeting of senior ministers and officials chaired by President Emmanuel Macron, he said: "We are ready tomorrow to be extremely firm and not tolerate anything." He added: "We will be uncompromising with rioters, looters and all who commit violence."
Paris authorities have approved a union march on a limited route in the east of the capital, between the Place de la Bastille and the Place de la Nation, which avoids the city centre. Requests for Paris rallies organised by the student union UNEF and by the gilets jaunes, or yellow vests, movement were refused. The centres of Lyon and some other large cities will be off-limits to protesters on Saturday. The gilets jaunes movement plans around 600 small-scale events across France.
Major Paris museums, including the Louvre, the Orsay Museum, the Picasso Museum and the Grand Palais, are closed on Saturday. Art Basel in Paris opened to the public on Friday only, and its weekend programme was cancelled because of the threat of unrest.
On Friday, Loire-Atlantique prefect Laurent Hottiaux, the state's senior representative in the department, presided over a tribute ceremony at the Nantes police station for police officer Mathieu Morat. Morat died in the line of duty during the night of 16 to 17 October.
