France protests on 24 October: 70,000 police on the streets

French cities are taking to the streets for the second time in a row, but this time they face noticeably reinforced security forces. About 70,000 police officers and gendarmes have been deployed across the country, 10,000 more than a week earlier. In Lyon, where demonstrations are banned in a large part of the city, police have already dispersed one gathering with tear gas.

Last Saturday was remembered for looted shops, attacks on shopkeepers, a town hall set on fire and cobblestones thrown at police. This time, shopkeepers have protected their windows in advance.

What is known about the security measures

The Interior Ministry has mobilised the elite RAID, GIGN and BRI units, about two dozen Centaure armoured vehicles and fifteen water cannon. The scale of the measures is already raising questions about whether the authorities have gone too far. Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights Michael O’Flaherty urged countries experiencing violent protests to respect citizens’ right to peaceful assembly.

“Law enforcement must give priority to dialogue and de-escalation,” he stressed. According to him, the use of force must be strictly necessary, and all allegations of abuse must be investigated promptly.

Tensions were also heightened by an attack on Friday in a south-western suburb of Paris. A gunman in Trappes and neighbouring La Verrière killed one person and wounded five others. President Emmanuel Macron called the incident a racist terrorist act, and the anti-terrorism prosecutor’s office is handling the case. The 39-year-old suspect was detained on Friday, and on Saturday prosecutors reported the detention of three people from his circle of relatives and friends. A search of his flat also turned up gas canisters and wires connected to a timer.

Results of last Saturday

According to the Interior Ministry, 550,000 people took to the streets, while the organisers speak of 800,000. Protests against the rising cost of living and the state of public services turned into looting and fierce clashes in many places. According to the latest figures from the Ministry of Justice, about 2,700 people have been detained, 217 of whom ended up in prison. On Saturday, a court remanded in custody two men, aged 34 and 66, suspected of taking part in the arson of the town hall in Limoges. The building, dating from 1883, was attacked by radical participants: they smashed windows and doors and set fire to the interior, and the blaze largely destroyed the town hall.

Macron placed the blame for the violence primarily on organised far-left groups. In a speech on 22 October, he spoke of “political and even insurrectionary actions” by people who, in his words, want to overthrow the republic. The government has taken a harder line: it wants to ban unauthorised gatherings, and trade union demonstrations will be allowed to continue only on the authorities’ terms. Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez promised that the security forces would be “uncompromising” towards violent demonstrators.

The dispute over the route in Paris

Tension between the authorities and the organisers began even before people took to the streets. On Friday, the Paris police prefecture rejected the route between Place de la Nation and Place de la Bastille that had previously been agreed with the unions, and set a march from Porte d’Italie to Porte de Vincennes. The union coalition called this “unacceptable” and said it would come to the Bastille anyway. The dispute reached the administrative court, which on Saturday morning rejected the organisers’ appeal and upheld the route chosen by the police. The authorised march is to run from 1 p.m. to 7 p.m.

Philémon Jouglet Marcus, a federal spokesperson for the school students’ union, said that people at the Bastille risk police intervention and prosecution. The prefecture explained the change of route by the security situation, and its representative Hélène Deneschère clarified on BFM-TV that the deadly attack in Trappes had also been taken into account.

Paris prepared in advance: shop windows in the centre are boarded up, some metro stations have been closed since morning, and soldiers are on duty on the Champs-Élysées as part of the anti-terrorism Operation Sentinelle. Large-scale checks are under way at railway stations and on public transport. According to the prefecture, 635 checks had been carried out by about one o’clock, “many prohibited items” had been seized and arrests had been made.

Marseille, Lyon and Orléans

The preparation is even more visible in Marseille, where the authorities had earlier been criticised for an insufficient security presence. The city centre is ringed by police, and about twenty CRS and national police vehicles are stationed at the start of the Canebière boulevard, from where the only authorised march will set off at 2 p.m. The deployment has disrupted part of the city’s public transport. In Lyon, shopkeepers have also boarded up their windows, and the city has restricted demonstrations in part of the centre.

Orléans has drawn particular attention. Almost 15,000 supporters of the far-right National Rally will arrive there this weekend, as the party holds its congress at the local Zénith, followed by the first major rally of Marine Le Pen’s presidential campaign. At the same time, a demonstration against “racism, fascism and imperialism” is under way in the centre: according to the prefecture’s estimate, up to 30,000 people may attend. According to Le Monde, about 11,000 had already gathered in the morning, while the organisers themselves speak of 26,000. Mayor Serge Grouard has announced a curfew for children under 15 from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. for the next two nights.

Whether the mass police presence will calm the situation or, on the contrary, add to the tension will be shown above all by the daytime marches.

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Around Prague, based on reporting by seznamzpravy.cz