France Braces for Nationwide Protests as 70,000 Police Deployed a Week After Riots

On Saturday, more than 70,000 police officers will be on the streets of France, a week after some of the worst unrest the country has seen in decades. The interior ministry ordered the deployment because it fears protesters will defy the restrictions placed on demonstrations. Hundreds of thousands of people are still expected to turn out in Paris and elsewhere for a second round of protests called by students, trade unions and broader anti-government groups.

The government is under pressure after the riots of 17 October. Opposition parties accuse it of failing to foresee the scale of the disorder, in which police were vastly outnumbered by protesters and rioters, shops were looted and buildings were torched. The most emblematic loss was the ornate 19th-century town hall in Limoges. Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez said authorities would let nothing go unchallenged and would be uncompromising with vandals and looters. He added that, separate from the planned marches, officials had seen numerous calls for violence on social media from what he called the far left and radical extreme left.

The courts have moved quickly. Justice Minister Gérald Darmanin said on Friday that 232 people had been imprisoned for their part in the 17 October riots and that more than 1,100 had appeared in court. About 260 of those cases involve charges of organised gang activity. Darmanin has told prosecutors to seek punitive measures against people convicted of looting or attacking police officers, including bans from demonstrations, loss of the right to vote and bans from social media.

The rules for Saturday are uneven. President Emmanuel Macron decreed this week that only demonstrations organised by recognised trade unions may go ahead. Lyon, Nice and Montpellier have gone further with blanket bans on gatherings. Marseille swiftly reversed a ban on all protests to let a union-organised march proceed, and other mayors have agreed to permit registered demonstrations. Some areas, including parts of the capital, have lived under partial curfews this week. In Paris, a march organised by the student union and backed by labour groups has been told to avoid the city centre. Even so, preparations for trouble in the best-known districts are under way: the Louvre, Orsay and Picasso museums will be shut, PSG's home match has been moved to Monday, and some businesses have boarded up their windows.

Organisers appear largely undeterred, with hundreds of large and small demonstrations planned. Macron met high-school students' representatives on Friday. They said he had made clear commitments to them, but they still urged students to keep mobilising. A revived gilets jaunes (yellow vest) movement, which staged huge disruptive protests in Macron's first term and has drawn support from left and right, could also be out in force. A website linked to the group lists more than 500 planned demonstrations and some 200 other actions, and demands that Macron resign. Its call to action says it refuses to join the chorus of outrage over the 17 October violence and accuses police of attacking protesters.

The backdrop is a tense one. Cost-of-living pressures have grown, and the public hears increasingly stark warnings that any future government will have to make deep spending cuts to finance spiralling debt. Macron leaves office next spring, and polls suggest a candidate from his centrist movement could miss the May run-off. That would likely leave voters choosing between the hard-right National Rally and the radical-left La France Insoumise. Leaders of both parties blame Macron and his ministers for the disorder, sensing opportunity after his centrists struggled to form functioning governments and pass legislation. Jean-Luc Mélenchon, La France Insoumise's leader and presidential candidate, has criticised what he calls heavy-handed policing and accused Macron of destroying the republican state through restrictions. He urged supporters to join Saturday's protests, as he did the week before, before condemning the rioting that followed.

Orléans, about 120 km (75 miles) south of Paris, could become a flashpoint. The National Rally is holding a two-day conference there, with thousands of members gathering to hear Marine Le Pen, and left-wing groups are expected to descend on the small city. Its mayor has called the expected numbers unprecedented, said thousands of police will be deployed and announced that public transport will be suspended. Polls suggest Le Pen has her strongest chance yet of winning the presidency in her fourth run, despite a court finding her guilty earlier this year of embezzling EU funds. She denies any offence and is appealing. Saturday will show whether the restrictions hold, and how far the movement has outgrown its student origins.