France to deploy 70,000 police on Saturday to prevent civil unrest
France is putting about 70,000 police on the streets nationwide this Saturday after violent cost-of-living protests last weekend, in an operation announced by interior minister Laurent Nuñez that includes elite counter-terrorism and hostage-rescue units.
France to deploy 70,000 police on Saturday to prevent civil unrest
Elite units and heavy equipment
Interior minister Laurent Nuñez announced on Friday that about 70,000 officers would deploy around the country on Saturday, including elite units usually used for counter-terrorism operations and hostage rescues. Beyond 10,000 additional police, the operation will field water cannon, armoured vehicles, mounted police, helicopters and drones.
Nuñez told reporters after a meeting of senior ministers and officials chaired by President Emmanuel Macron that social media calls for violence had come from "ultra-left" groups.
"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".
Why the security operation: last Saturday's riots
The government has admitted it "lost control" over widespread rioting last Saturday, six months before presidential elections to choose Macron's successor. Largely peaceful demonstrations were hijacked by rioters, bringing violence and extensive looting in Paris, Marseille, Lyon and other cities. In Limoges, the town hall was set on fire and partly destroyed.
Justice minister Gérald Darmanin said 217 people – half of them first-time offenders – had been jailed since Saturday.
Bans, rerouted marches and the weekend's protests
Several French cities have banned demonstrations outright or rerouted them, and forecast heavy rain and high winds could dampen turnout. Restrictions include:
- Lyon's city centre and the centres of some other large cities will be off-limits to protesters; in Paris, a union march is authorised between Place de la Bastille and Place de la Nation, avoiding the centre
- Rallies in Paris by the student union UNEF and the gilets jaunes movement were refused; the gilets jaunes plan 600 small-scale events across France on Saturday
- UNEF said its rallies, which grew from high school protests last month over teacher shortages and dilapidated facilities, would go ahead regardless
- Marseille authorities had banned all protests but on Friday allowed a union demonstration on an "exceptional basis" – the only authorised protest in the Bouches-du-Rhône department
- Several major Paris cultural institutions, including the Louvre, will close on Saturday
Protests over public services, housing affordability, budget cuts and the cost of living are also planned this weekend elsewhere in Europe. They have been called for Saturday in Milan, Rome and Turin in Italy; Vienna in Austria; Madrid, Barcelona and other Spanish cities; Lisbon and Porto in Portugal; Dublin in Ireland; and Tirana in Albania.
Political reactions and Orléans
The protest bans in France are being challenged in court in several cities, and Marylise Léon of the CFDT union federation accused Macron of an abuse of authority.
"It's not for the president to decide who can legitimately protest."
Léon told TF1 TV. La France Insoumise said the government had "crossed the lines that separate a democracy from an authoritarian and police state" and that the bans would "generate more chaos".
Marine Le Pen, frontrunner for next spring's presidential election, is due to host her National Rally party congress in Orléans, drawing thousands of supporters and opponents. Nuñez was due to visit the city on Friday to "inspect the security arrangements" at the prime minister's office's request.
The legal challenges to the bans continue in several cities, and UNEF insists its refused rallies will go ahead regardless, with heavy rain and wind forecast for Saturday likely to affect turnout.
