France assigns 70,000 police for Saturday protests

Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez confirmed that up to 70,000 police officers will be deployed across France for Saturday’s demonstrations. The security force will include helicopters, armored vehicles, and water cannons. This mobilization follows a week of unrest that resulted in looted shops and burned vehicles.

The primary route for the Paris march was altered on Friday. Authorities restricted the march to the city’s southeastern edge, specifically between Porte d’Italie and Porte de Vincennes. This replaces the previously planned route from Bastille to Nation. Last week’s protests attracted more than half a million participants, and organizers expect a similarly large crowd on Saturday.

The movement began last month due to staff shortages at a high school southeast of Paris. It has since expanded to include demands for more teachers, improved school infrastructure, and increased university capacity. Unions are also pushing for higher wages and pension reforms to offset rising living costs. Student groups have proposed a 10-point plan that seeks 250,000 additional higher education places and an end to the Parcoursup admissions system.

The proposal also includes an extra 200 euros per month in student grants and a rent freeze for public student housing. Major cultural institutions in Paris will remain closed on Saturday. The Louvre, Musée d’Orsay, Picasso Museum, and Grand Palais are all shut down. The Grand Palais is currently hosting a major Cézanne exhibition. Art Basel opened to the public on Friday but canceled its weekend program due to the threat of unrest.

Shopkeepers have spent the week barricading their stores to protect their inventories. Akram Ahmed, a 34-year-old contractor, was boarding up an optician’s shop near Saint-Lazare station on Friday. He stated that the owner called him the previous night and explained that he was saving his life. Approximately 3,000 shops across France were damaged or looted during the previous weekend’s protests.

Not all planned rallies will proceed as intended. Marches are scheduled in Paris and Marseille, but local authorities banned demonstrations in Lyon, Nice, and Montpellier. French media reported that police used tear gas in Lyon on Saturday morning. Trade unions criticized these bans as violations of constitutional freedom of expression. In Limoges, two suspects were placed under formal investigation and held pending trial for the fire that nearly destroyed the 19th-century city hall. The investigation includes charges of attempted murder of a public official.

President Emmanuel Macron faces the crisis in the final stretch of his term, with his popularity at its lowest point since taking office in 2017. He stated that the security measures are necessary to protect city centers, businesses, and public buildings. In Orléans, thousands gathered for an anti-far-right protest alongside a two-day congress of Marine Le Pen’s party. Victoria Ambrosini, an art critic and teacher at Saint-Denis University, noted that money is now concentrated in the hands of very few people, calling the situation impossible to sustain.