France Protests: 70,000 Police Brace for Saturday Unrest

The France protests are about to hit another tense weekend, and the government is not taking chances. Authorities will put about seventy thousand police and gendarmes on the streets on Saturday after the worst urban violence in years broke out on the edges of last weekend's cost-of-living demonstrations.

A huge security operation for Saturday

According to The Guardian, Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez said the deployment includes elite units usually used for counter-terrorism and hostage rescues. Al Jazeera reports it is roughly ten thousand more officers than last weekend, backed by mounted police, helicopters, drones, armoured vehicles and water cannon.

Nuñez did not soften the message. "We will be uncompromising with rioters, looters and all those who commit acts of violence," he told reporters, adding that calls from "ultra-left" groups urging activists to target public buildings had been spotted online. He also said it would not be a friendly demonstration.

Curfews set up in some sensitive areas this week stay in place, and Paris has extended its nighttime curfew until Monday, Al Jazeera reports. Shops have been urged to close, and the Louvre will shut its doors on Saturday.

How a school protest turned into a national movement

This did not start as a riot. The demonstrations first erupted last month at a high school in Créteil, southeast of Paris, over staff shortages. Students were angry about dilapidated buildings, teacher shortages and overcrowded classrooms, and the movement spread to other suburbs and then nationwide.

Over several weeks it grew into a wider outpouring of anger over the cost of living and strained public services, pulling in workers, unions and others. More than five hundred thousand people gathered across France last Saturday, according to Al Jazeera. But some marches were overtaken by masked groups who burned cars and ransacked shops, and the Guardian says the government admitted it "lost control" of the rioting.

Bans, arrests and a very uneasy mood

The damage from last weekend is still fresh. In Limoges, the town hall was set on fire and partly destroyed, and looting hit Paris, Marseille, Lyon and other cities. Macron has blamed "seditious" ultra-left groups for the worst of it, though he also said gangs of rioters were mainly responsible for the looting, according to the Guardian.

Macron has said the strategy is to ban protests requested by people or groups without legitimate authority, so only union demonstrations are allowed. Paris authorised a single union march on a limited route between the Bastille and Nation squares. Lyon banned gatherings in central areas, and Marseille allowed one union march on an exceptional basis.

The student union UNEF said its rallies would go ahead anyway, and it accused Macron of trampling on the freedom to protest. Amnesty International called the restrictions a slide toward authoritarian practice, while Human Rights Watch raised alarm over reports of children badly hurt by crowd-control weapons.

On the other side, the courts are busy. Justice Ministry figures cited by Al Jazeera put the number of arrests since last Saturday at two thousand seven hundred, and the Guardian says two hundred seventeen people have been jailed.

Macron meets students, and nobody is satisfied

On Friday Macron met high school student representatives at the Élysée Palace for the first time since the protests began more than a month ago. According to France 24, student groups said he promised an overhaul of Parcoursup, the university admissions platform critics call opaque and discriminatory.

It was not enough for them. Nathanael Combary of the group High School Renewal said Macron had been attentive, but the students were awaiting proposals in talks with the prime minister on Monday. "We are not satisfied," he said, urging pupils to keep mobilising. Private-sector unions have also called a strike for the fifth of November.

Why the rest of Europe is watching

Tension spilled into other headlines too. A shooting in Trappes, west of Paris, killed one person and injured four, including a twelve-year-old girl, and police said it could have been racially motivated. Meanwhile US President Donald Trump said the NFL "could have probably postponed" Sunday's Steelers and Saints game in Paris, adding that "France is really in trouble," per France 24's live coverage.

The mood is not only French. The Guardian notes related protests are planned this weekend in Milan, Rome and Turin, in Vienna, across Spain and Portugal, and in Dublin and Tirana, all fuelled by anger over housing, public services and spiralling living costs.

The timing is rough for Macron, with presidential elections about six months away. The weekend also scrambles sports and culture: France 24 says the PSG versus Lyon game was pushed to Monday, and Art Basel Paris cancelled its weekend programme. For readers following Europe's youth-driven unrest, more is on our world page.

What happens Saturday will show whether the France protests calm down under heavy policing or whether the crackdown pushes more young people into the streets.