France is bracing for a second round of nationwide protests on Saturday, a week after the country saw some of its worst unrest in decades, as authorities deploy large numbers of police and restrict demonstrations in several cities.1,3,4
The interior ministry has said it will deploy 70,000 police officers to boost the security presence in French cities. Hundreds of thousands of protesters are still expected to gather in Paris and elsewhere for the demonstrations, which are organized by students, trade unions and wider anti-government groups. Opposition parties have accused the government of failing to foresee the scale of the unrest on October 17.1,3,4
Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez said, “We will not let anything go unchallenged.” He added, “We will be uncompromising with the vandals, with the looters, and all those who commit acts of violence.” Nuñez said that, separate from the planned protests, numerous calls for violence had been seen on social media from the “far left and radical extreme left.”1
Hundreds of people have been jailed for vandalism, arson and looting after fast-track court hearings in recent days.1
The protests began with demands from high school students to improve school conditions and fix staff shortages, before violence took hold in some places. A coalition of the “Yellow Vests” movement, trade unions and students will march across France on Saturday with demands over studying conditions and purchasing power. Photographs of the preparations show protests described as being against the cost of living and rising fuel prices.1,4
Public disillusionment is high, the BBC reported in its coverage of the French public, who have seen cost-of-living pressures increase and face increasingly dire warnings that any future government will likely bring deep spending cuts.1
President Emmanuel Macron met representatives of high school students on Friday ahead of Saturday's protests. The students said he had made clear commitments to them, but they also said students should “continue to mobilise.” Macron told them his government would make a series of commitments to improve high school education from Monday, his advisers told French TV.1
Macron decreed earlier this week that only demonstrations organized by recognized trade unions would be permitted on Saturday. Several key cities, including Lyon, Nice and Montpellier, have gone further by announcing blanket bans on gatherings. Official announcements appear to have done little to deter organizers, with hundreds of large and small demonstrations planned across France.1
After a week in which some cities have lived under partial curfews, the picture on which protests will be allowed is inconsistent. While some mayors have pressed ahead with broad bans, others have agreed to allow demonstrations registered with authorities. In Marseille, a previous order barring all protests was swiftly reversed to allow a trade union-organized march to go ahead.1
In Paris, a march organized by the student union and supported by labor groups has been ordered to stick to a route that does not go through the city centre. Preparations for potential unrest in some of the city's most recognizable areas are under way regardless, and the Louvre, Orsay and Picasso museums will all be closed.1
In a separate live update, the prefecture in Orléans put the number of protesters against the National Rally there at 11,000.4
In the United States, Trump has cast France's unrest as a warning of what he says could happen in the country if Democrats win in the midterms, and has blamed the unrest on migrants and Muslims. “What the hell happened to France?” Trump told a crowd in a livestock competition arena in Clemson, South Carolina, on Wednesday.4
The students said students should “continue to mobilise,” and Macron’s government has said its education commitments would begin on Monday.1,4
