Hundreds of thousands of people are expected at protests across France today, according to the Guardian World. The rallies include high school students, unionists and "yellow vest" demonstrators, and they come as authorities deploy 70,000 police officers and soldiers and Paris metro stations close.
Authorities have increased policing by 20%, mobilising 70,000 police officers and soldiers, including elite units and trainee officers, the Guardian World reported. Many Paris metro stations, major museums and tourist sites are shut today, and businesses across the country have been urged to close.
The unrest began in September with largely peaceful, student-led protests over the quality of public education, according to the Straits Times. It later escalated into the country’s worst rioting in decades, the paper reported.
More than 2,000 arrests have been made and nearly 1,000 police officers have been injured, according to the French Interior Ministry, as reported by the Straits Times. That figure comes from a single outlet, and no updated count for today’s protests was found.
Authorities issued curfews and protest bans on Oct 19 in parts of Paris, Lyon, Marseille, Nice and Lille, the Straits Times reported. No response from the French government or police to the restrictions and closures was included in the sources.
Separately, a Friday shooting west of Paris killed one person and injured five others, including a child. The gunman allegedly targeted non-white people, and the French president called it a "racist terrorist attack." The sources do not give the date of the shooting.
Marine Le Pen’s National Rally is holding its national conference in Orléans, where up to 30,000 counter-demonstrators are expected, according to the Guardian World.
More protests are planned this weekend and over the next two weeks, the Straits Times reported.
Several details remain unclear. The sources do not state the exact date of today’s rallies. Turnout figures are not yet available, and the Guardian figure for today is an expectation rather than a count. Coverage of the protests in Italy, Spain, Austria, Portugal, Albania and Ireland was not available in the sources reviewed.
Sources
This article was written with AI assistance from the published reporting listed above. It is part of the World Brief daily news podcast.