Live: Protests grow in France amid heightened security
French protests have grown in cities across the country as authorities deployed 70,000 police officers to prevent a repeat of last weekend's rioting that saw 3,000 shops ransacked.
The mood in France has felt almost apocalyptic in recent days as business owners fear more looting might occur after gangs ransacked and destroyed at least 3,000 shops across the country last weekend. Some shopkeepers are planning to buy weapons to defend themselves, while others are too afraid to speak publicly for fear of being targeted.
Interior Minister Laurent Nunez admitted on Monday that authorities experienced a "loss of control" last Saturday, leading to an increase in police deployment by 10,000 to 70,000 this Saturday. Clashes between protesters and police have begun in several cities including Marseille, Lyon and Paris, though the scale appears much smaller than last weekend's violence.
Last weekend, our neighborhood resembled a war zone with gangs roaming the area. Today, it's completely empty apart from police with their vans.
Protest Numbers
Paris police reported 110,000 protesters on Saturday, with the anti-government "Yellow Vest" movement joining forces with aggrieved school students. The CGT trade union, however, claimed 800,000 participated nationwide, with 250,000 in Paris. Authorities limited the Paris march to the city's southeastern edge, away from the center.
The Yellow Vest movement, which was central to protests from 2018 to 2020 against rising fuel prices, has recently resurfaced amid the current demonstrations. On Saturday, organizers called for new rallies on October 31, including a sit-in outside parliament and city halls nationwide to protest what they called the "authoritarian drift" of President Emmanuel Macron.
Security Measures
French police have arrested 135 people and seized various weapons including metal balls, lead pellets, fireworks, slingshots, steel balls, improvised weapons, a katana and airsoft weapons. Interior Minister Nunez stated that police have been ordered to prevent renewed street violence and that "so far, there has been no major incident."
Major Paris museums and landmarks have been closed due to security fears, including the Louvre, the Orsay Museum, the Picasso Museum, the Grand Palais, and the Arc de Triomphe. The contemporary art fair Art Basel Paris has canceled its entire weekend program. The closures follow violent rioting on October 17 that authorities fear could be repeated.
Regional Impact
As unrest spreads across Europe, Italy's Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has ordered 500 additional soldiers to Milan, where some 5,000 police and other law enforcement personnel are already stationed. Authorities are conducting drone surveillance, railway station checks, and monitoring online calls to violence to prevent a repeat of the October 17 violence.
Protests against Marine Le Pen's far-right National Rally were also held in Orleans, where demonstrators carried signs expressing solidarity with leftist Antifa and Palestinians, invoking Nazi occupation and the Vichy regime. Meanwhile, Albania, Spain and Portugal are also seeing waves of protests over long-standing issues including education deficiencies and affordable housing shortages.
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