Some of Paris’s biggest museums are closed and shopkeepers have boarded up their premises ahead of Saturday’s protests, as the capital seeks to protect its cultural landmarks and businesses from a repeat of last weekend’s violence.
Issued on:
The Louvre, Musée d’Orsay, Picasso Museum and Grand Palais are all shut for the day, disrupting plans for visitors and residents alike. At the Grand Palais, the closure also means a pause in access to a major Cézanne exhibition.
The precautions follow unrest in Paris and other French cities a week ago, when masked groups looted shops, set cars alight and attacked public buildings on the sidelines of demonstrations.
Around 3,000 shops across France were damaged or looted, leaving business owners facing repairs and concerns about another difficult weekend.
France mobilises 70,000 police and gendarmes for Saturday protests
Art fair cuts short its public opening
The disruption has also hit Art Basel, one of the world’s leading contemporary art fairs. Organisers cancelled its weekend programme because of the threat of unrest, leaving Friday as its only day open to the public.
Together, the museum closures and the shortened fair programme have curtailed a busy weekend on the capital’s cultural calendar.
For shopkeepers, the priority has been securing their premises. Businesses have spent the week installing protective boards, with wooden panels covering a bank branch and other storefronts near Place de la République – one of the flashpoints during last Saturday’s unrest.
The precautions reflect the anxiety among traders after scenes of looting and destruction in several city centres.
Paris police prefect Patrice Faure initially urged shopkeepers to hire security guards, before clarifying that protecting businesses and their owners remained the government’s responsibility.
President Emmanuel Macron has defended the security measures being taken ahead of the protests, saying they are needed to safeguard city centres, businesses and public buildings.
The damage last weekend extended well beyond Paris. In Limoges, a suspected arson attack nearly destroyed the city’s 19th-century town hall.
Bill to make vandals pay for damage advances in wake of France's unrest
A capital braced for another march
A fresh march is scheduled in Paris on Saturday, with another large turnout expected after more than half a million people demonstrated across France last weekend.
Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said up to 70,000 officers would be deployed nationwide, supported by helicopters, armoured vehicles and water cannons.
While demonstrations are also planned in Marseille, local authorities have banned some other rallies, including in Lyon, Nice and Montpellier. Trade unions have criticised the bans as violations of the constitutional right to freedom of expression.
The protest movement began last month at a secondary school southeast of Paris over staff shortages. Class boycotts and demonstrations subsequently spread through other suburbs and across the country, including smaller towns.
Students have called for better-funded schools and more staff, particularly in lower-income neighbourhoods. Some also want changes to the university admissions system, which many see as unfair.
The movement has since broadened into protests over rising living costs and inequality, increasing pressure on the government ahead of next spring’s presidential election.
“The money is now concentrated in the hands of very few people,” said Victoria Ambrosini, an art critic and art teacher at Saint-Denis University. “And it’s not possible anymore.”
(with newswires)