France Deploys 70,000 Police for Halloween Protests as Minister Warns of ‘Very High Risk’

France will deploy 70,000 security forces across the country on Saturday, October 31, after Interior Minister Laurent Nunez warned that the day poses a “very high risk” to public order, as Halloween coincides with a fresh round of protests.

The announcement sets the scale of the policing operation for the France Halloween protests, which fall on the same day as Halloween night and a planned day of demonstrations called by unions and protest groups.

FAKTA

• 70,000 security forces to be deployed across France on Saturday, October 31.
• Interior Minister Laurent Nunez says October 31 poses a “very high risk” to public order.
• Gatherings in city centres from 8 p.m. onward will be under particular watch.
• Last Saturday, October 24, about 410,000 people marched nationwide, according to the Interior Ministry, with 70,000 police deployed.
• Unions and protest groups have also called a nationwide strike for November 5.

What the minister announced

Nunez told reporters on Thursday, October 29, that several radical groups had called on social media for violent gatherings on Saturday, which is also Halloween, and that the response of the security forces would be “extremely firm,” Reuters reported.

He highlighted the risk of disorder on Saturday evening in particular, once more mainstream demonstrations have ended. According to the minister, calls for rallies were coming from the labour movement, the radicalized far left and certain radicalized “Yellow Vests” websites, urging people to gather on public streets starting at 8 p.m. on October 31 in many cities across France, accompanied by messages he described as quite radical.

In a letter sent to prefects on Thursday, also reported by French broadcaster BFMTV, Nunez said the risk of urban violence on Saturday was “very high” from early evening until late into the night. The letter said intelligence services had spotted multiple calls for gatherings in city centres on social media, under the pretext of Halloween, and asked prefects to pay particular attention to gatherings in public squares from 8 p.m. It called for a “robust, responsive and agile” security plan, along the lines of the operation deployed on October 24, with all state services fully mobilized.

In Paris, French media reported that the police prefecture rejected two proposed march routes for Saturday, one put forward by the Yellow Vests movement and one by the CGT union, both starting at Place de la Bastille. The Yellow Vests movement has planned sit-ins from 2 p.m., including outside the National Assembly.

A large crowd fills a Paris boulevard during an earlier demonstration in France. (File photo)

Why Saturday is under such close watch

The Interior Ministry has said 410,000 people took part in marches last Saturday, October 24, when authorities deployed 70,000 police, helping to avert a repeat of the looting and vandalism that swept many cities on October 17.

Labour leaders and students have urged further protests on October 31 and a nationwide strike on November 5, saying frustration over wages, living costs and public services was spreading far beyond the student movement that first mobilised last month.

For more coverage of developments across the continent, see Watan News’ Europe news.

What happens next

Attention now turns to Saturday itself: the daytime demonstrations, the evening gatherings that the minister singled out as the period of greatest concern, and whether the large-scale deployment keeps the day peaceful. The planned nationwide strike on November 5 will be the next test of the protest movement’s staying power.