France Weekend Protests: 70,000 Police Deployed
France will deploy about 70,000 police nationwide on Saturday as it braces for fresh protests, a week after some of the worst urban violence in years erupted on the sidelines of demonstrations. The France weekend protests follow a movement that began with high school students protesting over learning conditions and has since spread across the country, driven by wider anger over the rising cost of living.
Interior Minister Laurent Nunez announced the deployment at a news conference in Paris, warning that calls for violence and looting were circulating on social media. About 20 per cent more security personnel will be on duty than last weekend, after questions over police preparedness and intelligence gathering.
France weekend protests: why this Saturday matters
The protests arrive at a critical moment for France, six months ahead of elections to replace President Emmanuel Macron. A new poll underlines far-right candidate Marine Le Pen as the frontrunner, and suggests her position has been strengthened by the latest events.
Le Pen is due at the weekend to host her National Rally party congress in Orleans, with thousands of supporters expected. Local authorities fear clashes as counter-protesters also head to the city south of Paris.
In Orleans, between 20,000 and 30,000 people are expected to turn out against Le Pen’s party, but the gathering will be barred from the city centre, the prefecture said. In Lyon, central areas will also be off-limits to demonstrators this weekend.
In Paris, police overturned a previous permit for union-led protesters to march between Bastille and Nation squares in the east, offering an alternative route on the south-eastern edge of the city instead. Unions vowed to push ahead on the banned route, citing safety concerns over the alternative.
Authorities in Marseille had also banned protests but announced on Friday that a union-organised demonstration would be allowed on an exceptional basis, the only one authorised in the southern Bouches-du-Rhone department.
Offenders jailed after last weekend
Macron’s government has sought to draw a line between the legitimate demands of protesters and the looting, burning and ransacking that erupted on the sidelines of demonstrations last Saturday.
Courts have already sent 217 people, half of them first-time offenders, to prison over the events on Saturday, Justice Minister Gerald Darmanin said.
On Thursday, Macron called for the utmost severity against acts of delinquency, accusing ultra-left groups of having sought to bring down the republic last weekend. An extreme-left group in western France posted a call on its website for its supporters to be uncatchable, unpredictable, and to evade the deployment of police.
Macron met representatives of secondary school pupils on Friday, but they emerged from the talks urging students to keep protesting until the government put forward concrete proposals to address their demands.
Restrictions draw criticism
The restrictions, including outright bans on protests in some cities, have drawn criticism from rights groups. Amnesty International denounced what it called a slide toward authoritarian practice, saying the measures were jeopardising the right to demonstrate peacefully.
In the capital, leading museums including the Louvre will be closed on Saturday while the Art Basel art fair is being cut short.
The political stakes
A new poll by Harris Interactive for M6/RTL, taken after the violence, showed Le Pen ahead on 33 to 35 per cent in the first round of voting for the presidential elections.
The violence has tarnished the image of France ahead of elections that could be a turning point in its modern history, with the government’s debt pile also troubling investors.
For readers following the French unrest, this deployment is the direct sequel to last weekend’s violence: the same student-led movement, the same grievances over living costs and school conditions, but now met with a much larger police presence, banned routes and closed museums.
Feature Pakistan’s world coverage this week also includes the UAE diplomat emerging as a frontrunner for the UN’s top job and Israel’s major West Bank operation after two soldiers were killed.
Frequently asked questions
How many police will France deploy for the weekend protests?
About 70,000 security personnel will be deployed nationwide on Saturday, about 20 per cent more than last weekend.
What started the protests in France?
Protests by high school students over learning conditions sparked the movement, which has since spread nationwide amid wider anger over the rising cost of living.
Why is Orleans a flashpoint this weekend?
Marine Le Pen’s National Rally is holding its party congress there, while 20,000 to 30,000 counter-protesters are expected, though barred from the city centre.
