France deploys 70,000 agents to avoid another day of violence in the streets

BarcelonaFrench authorities will deploy 70,000 police officers and gendarmes across the country this Thursday ahead of a day of labor strikes and new protests over the rising cost of living and the deterioration of public services. Between 500,000 and 700,000 people are expected to participate. Following criticism regarding the lack of police officers during the October 17 mobilizations, and with the aim of avoiding new episodes of violence, the French government has decided to fortify cities and launch a major police deployment for this Thursday.

Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez has explained that intelligence services have detected movements by far-left groups that could commit violent acts during today's mobilization, as reported by the Efe agency. French authorities expect about 220 demonstrations across the territory and fear that these groups may take advantage of the massive gatherings to attack shops and law enforcement and cause damage to public buildings. Nevertheless, intelligence services have warned of "risks" of riots during this Thursday's strike day.

Call by students and the 'yellow vests'

The unions have called for mobilizations across the country with demonstrations from 10 a.m., and numerous high schools and universities could experience blockades from early in the morning. The day will also feature the participation of the yellow vests. After the protests in the month of October, five unions in France (CFDT, CGT, FO, FSU and UNSA) decided to call for a march and a work stoppage for this Thursday, as reported by the newspaper Le Monde.

For all these reasons, the Ministry of the Interior has intensified preparations to prevent a repeat of the riots of October 17, a day that ended with more than a thousand police officers and gendarmes injured, nearly a thousand arrested, and numerous shops and public buildings damaged. Nuñez has requested the deployment of "robust, effective and agile" police devices, which will also include anti-riot units, Gendarmerie armored vehicles, water cannons, helicopters, drones and canine units. Elite units of the Police and the Gendarmerie, specialized in high-risk intervention operations, will also be on alert, such as the Research and Intervention Brigade (BRI), the police RAID and the National Gendarmerie Intervention Group. In parallel, the police are also maintaining surveillance on social networks to detect calls for looting.