France is preparing to deploy military personnel to contain protests over the weekend
Kyiv • UNN
French authorities will step up security on October 24 following mass riots and looting. Museums will be closed in Paris, while protests have been banned in Marseille and Lyon.
The French authorities are preparing for a new wave of protests on Saturday, October 24, deploying troops to support the police in order to prevent a repeat of last weekend’s riots and reassure markets concerned about the violence. UNN reports this, citing Bloomberg.
Details
According to the country’s Interior Ministry, there will be 20% more police officers on the ground than last Saturday. The chaos that erupted after protests over the cost of living led to 3,000 shops being looted and 2,700 arrests.
In addition to the increased police presence, special forces, which are usually used for high-risk missions such as counterterrorism, will be deployed if necessary, Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez said on Wednesday. Soldiers will help guard important buildings. Helicopters, water cannons, and armored vehicles known as "Centaurs" will also be available.
"This is not just about Paris; it concerns many cities across France," Thierry Clair, national secretary of the UNSA police union, said in an interview. "Large-scale operations will be carried out everywhere." He added that at least 75% of the police force would be mobilized, which is a very high figure, and that many would postpone their days off.
Nuñez initially postponed a press conference on the government’s security plans after a man shot one person and wounded four others on Friday. The man’s motive was not immediately clear, although the prosecutor’s counterterrorism office is investigating the situation, Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu said in a post on X.
During the press conference, Nuñez said that the government would be "uncompromising" in its fight against rioters and said that around 70,000 security personnel would be mobilized on Saturday.
In Paris, shops, including luxury boutiques, are boarding up their windows and hiring more security guards, while some will remain closed. The main march in Paris, authorized by the police, will run from Place de la Bastille to Place de la Nation in the northeast of the city.
Kering SA, the owner of Gucci and Balenciaga, remains vigilant about the threat of unrest in the coming days, the group’s chief financial officer said at an earnings conference on Thursday. Carrefour SA warned that social unrest would affect its earnings this year, a sign of the economic impact of the riots.
Three popular museums—the Louvre, the Musée d’Orsay, and the Picasso Museum—will close on Saturday, Agence France-Presse reports.
Marseille and Lyon have banned protests on Saturday and extended the curfew.