France will deploy 70,000 police officers nationwide this weekend as large-scale protests are expected across the country. After arson and looting last week, and with concerns growing over further clashes, the government has decided to mobilize armored vehicles and elite counterterrorism units as well. As the government tightens regional restrictions on demonstrations, opposition parties and civic groups are pushing back, saying the measures violate freedom of assembly.
French Interior Minister Laurent Nunez announced the response plan on the 23rd after a security meeting with President Emmanuel Macron and Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu, according to AFP, Bloomberg and France 24. Nunez said posts by radical far-left groups inciting violence and looting are spreading on social media, and that the government would take a hard line against rioters and looters committing violence.
As the protests intensify, the French government will mobilize helicopters, drones and about 20 armored vehicles, and deploy 15 water cannon trucks. Elite units normally used in counterterrorism operations will protect public facilities such as city halls. The scope of permitted assemblies has also been narrowed. Macron said demonstrations would be banned except those held by authorized labor unions. Weekend protests have been prohibited in Lyon, while in Paris marches are allowed only at the Place de la Bastille and along some routes in the eastern part of the city. In Marseille, local authorities will allow only union-organized protests that they have approved.
Civic groups and opposition parties are objecting. Amnesty International criticized the measures as endangering the right to peaceful protest and moving toward authoritarian practices. Jean-Luc Melenchon, leader of the left-wing La France Insoumise (LFI), also argued that the government's selecting who may protest and imposing curfews infringes on civil liberties.
The protests, which began as student rallies against poor education conditions, spread rapidly amid declining public-sector investment and high inflation. As the demonstrations escalated, some protesters attacked police and government buildings, and a series of shops have been looted. Groups of dozens to hundreds of people organized through social media have also been found to have descended on some stores, stealing goods and fleeing. About 2,500 people have been arrested across France in recent days, according to The Wall Street Journal. A Paris court has doubled the number of summary trial courtrooms.
The chance of clashes between rival groups of protesters is also rising. The far-right National Rally (RN) is holding its annual party convention in Orleans this weekend, and far-left and anti-racism groups have announced counter-rallies. With 20,000 to 30,000 people expected at the counter-demonstrations, authorities plan to ban protests in the city center. Shops in Paris and elsewhere are boarding up entrances and windows in preparation for damage and looting.