France Deploys 70,000 Police Amid Fears of Fresh Violence as Suspected Terror Attack Near Paris Raises Tensions
Seventy thousand law enforcement officers, along with helicopters, armoured vehicles and water cannons, will be deployed across France on Saturday as the government tries to ward off another weekend of violent protests. A suspected terrorist attack near Paris on Friday has added to tensions across the country.
President Emmanuel Macron's government has taken a hard line to prevent violence. Macron has cancelled his planned trip to Nigeria and Senegal originally scheduled for next week. Ahead of the weekend he said: 'The strategy adopted for the coming days is to ban protests requested by individuals or groups with no legitimate authority.' He added: 'The rules are simple, and I think they're just common sense. The general recommendation is that there should be no demonstrations in the coming days.'
Macron said that where trade unions submit requests to hold demonstrations, prefects will examine them in accordance with the law, but alternative routes will be proposed to protect city centres, businesses and public buildings.
Security concerns were heightened by events in the city of Trappes, west of Paris. A 39-year-old man was arrested by police after one person was killed and four others, including a 12-year-old girl, were wounded in what was originally described as a 'relatively random' shooting. AFP reported that the suspect appeared to fire randomly from a vehicle, and the mayor told reporters the dead victim and at least one of the wounded were of African origin.
Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez told local media: 'The motive may be racist. The investigation is ongoing, but this is clearly a terrorist crime.' Macron said the nation was standing with the victims of this 'terrible ordeal'.
After acknowledging that police had 'lost control' during last weekend's unrest, Nuñez said his ministry was ready for the coming day. 'We will be extremely vigilant, extremely firm, and we will let absolutely nothing pass,' he said.
Meanwhile, the Union Nationale des Étudiants de France (UNEF), one of the nation's oldest student unions, has said its planned rallies will go on as scheduled despite police rejecting their permit requests. Police have so far only approved a union demonstration in Paris, while denying requests from UNEF and the 'Yellow Vest' movement, an anti-establishment force that first emerged in 2018.
Macron also took aim at those he says are behind the violence, saying: 'Last Saturday, we had political and seditious acts by ultra-left groups whose aim is to bring down the Republic.' His remarks have intensified the political argument surrounding the protests.
Earlier this week, Fabian Vanhemelryck, secretary general of the Alliance Police Nationale union, said political figures deserved blame — those who excuse the inexcusable, justify violence and prefer to blame police officers rather than condemn those who attack them. He said the state abandons its police officers in the face of increasingly uninhibited violence, while demanding that they accept, remain silent and continue to hold the line.
Major French institutions such as the Louvre and the Musée d'Orsay will be closed in anticipation of Saturday's planned protests, and 24 Metro stations across Paris will be closed. A Ligue 1 soccer match between Paris Saint-Germain and Olympique Lyonnais, scheduled for Sunday night at Parc des Princes in the capital, has also been postponed to Monday evening.
An NFL game between the Pittsburgh Steelers and the New Orleans Saints, scheduled for Sunday afternoon at Stade de France just north of central Paris, is still set to be played as scheduled, yet some weekend events around the game have been cancelled.
The Stade de France is the same stadium that hosted an international soccer match between France and neighbouring Germany during the November 13, 2015 terror attacks. Explosions were heard outside the stadium during the game that night, with then-President François Hollande in attendance, and fans were held inside for hours while authorities dealt with the attacks unfolding around Paris. With that memory still fresh, the tight security for Saturday is hardly surprising.
Nationwide demonstrations against rising living costs on October 17 saw clashes, fires and heavy police deployment in Paris. All eyes are now on whether Saturday will see a repeat of that violence.
