France deploys 70,000 police for new protest day – students stick to rallies
Ahead of Saturday’s protests, Macron met high school representatives for the first time. Students are calling rallies despite bans; the Louvre stays closed.
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France is deploying around 70,000 police officers and gendarmes for a new nationwide day of protests on Saturday, Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez said. About 20 armoured vehicles and 15 water cannon trucks will also be used. Only demonstrations organised by trade unions are authorised. A single union march is allowed in Marseille, while protests are banned across large parts of central Lyon. Night-time curfews are in force in parts of Paris, Marseille, Lyon, Nice and Montpellier. In Paris, police proposed a route between Porte de Vincennes and Porte d’Italie, but unions intend to gather at Bastille as planned.
President Emmanuel Macron received about 20 high school representatives at the Élysée Palace on Friday, his first meeting with pupils’ representatives since the protests began. The movement started over conditions at schools and later merged with anger over the rising cost of living. The students are demanding, among other things, an overhaul of the Parcoursup university admissions system. “We cannot leave these young people – us, high school and university students – without any answers,” Nathanaël Combary, president of Renouveau lycéen, told AFP. Pierre Sourzat, head of Les Lycéens, was sceptical that anything would come of the meeting. The student union UNEF is going ahead with rallies despite the restrictions. Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu is due to hold talks with representatives of pupils, teachers, unions, employers, local authorities and MPs on Monday.
According to the Justice Ministry, some 2,700 people have been taken into custody since the riots, and 232 have been jailed, Justice Minister Gérald Darmanin said. Macron had called for “the utmost severity” against offences. The Louvre and the Fondation Louis Vuitton will be closed on Saturday, and the Art Basel Paris fair is closing for the whole weekend. Marine Le Pen’s National Rally is meanwhile holding a party congress in Orléans, where authorities fear clashes with opponents.