France is bracing for a tense Saturday, October 24, as authorities deploy some 70,000 police officers and gendarmes nationwide ahead of planned cost-of-living protests, while closing the Louvre, the Musée d'Orsay, the Picasso museum and the Grand Palais in Paris. The massive security operation follows some of the worst street unrest in years, and both the government and demonstrators are digging in.
70,000 officers, helicopters and water cannons
Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez said the deployment would include helicopters, armored vehicles and water cannons, with elite police units protecting public buildings like city halls in a "highly mobile" security operation. "We will be absolutely uncompromising" with those involved in violence, Nuñez said at a news conference, warning of a "very firm approach to making arrests, and there will be legal consequences." He cited "numerous calls from radical far-left groups on social media to commit acts of violence and vandalism" and renewed calls for looting.
What triggered the unrest
The movement began with student demonstrations over school conditions — teacher shortages and shabby facilities — and broadened into a nationwide protest over the rising cost of living, drawing students, the CGT labor union and yellow vest activists. Last weekend's rallies devolved into mayhem: people set fires, stormed public buildings, smashed shop windows, looted and clashed with police in several cities, in what officials called France's most violent unrest in years.
For Saturday, authorities have authorized only a union-organized demonstration in Paris, restricted to a route between Bastille and Nation squares. Requests from France's main student union, UNEF, and the yellow vest movement were rejected, and major cities including Marseille and Lyon have banned protests outright. UNEF said its rallies would go ahead regardless.
Two sides, one Saturday
The government's position is that a peaceful protest over living costs must be separated from criminal violence: officials say radical militants and looters exploited the dispute to sow chaos, and that 70,000 officers are needed to protect shops, monuments and lives. President Emmanuel Macron convened a defence council of top ministers, postponed a planned trip to Nigeria and Senegal, and for the first time hosted representatives of high school pupils at the Élysée.
Demonstrators and their supporters argue the heavy-handed response targets the messenger: the protests began over school conditions and rising prices, and banning rallies while flooding the streets with officers, they say, treats citizens as a security problem rather than a constituency to be heard. The dispute now cuts to the heart of French politics six months ahead of elections to replace Macron — a new poll shows far-right candidate Marine Le Pen as the frontrunner, her position strengthened by the unrest.
The stakes are already visible beyond the marches: Paris museums are closed, Art Basel Paris cancelled its weekend program, and the UAE Embassy has urged its citizens to avoid crowded areas. Saturday will test whether the crackdown prevents violence — or escalates it.
Watch: APT report — "France On High Alert: 70,000 Security Forces Deployed Ahead Of Protests", on the deployment, the interior minister's briefing, and boarded-up storefronts in Paris and Marseille.
Music in this post's reel: Kevin MacLeod - Hitman (incompetech.com), licensed under CC BY 3.0
Sources: The Hindu / AP, Vanguard / AFP, Reuters via Devdiscourse, Manila Times / AP.