70,000 Police Deployed Across France for a Tense Day of Protests

French Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez on Saturday urged police to be "uncompromising" toward potential rioters as the country braced for a new day of protests. A week earlier, looting and clashes between police and demonstrators broke out on the margins of peaceful marches, leaving France on edge.

Speaking at the National Police Academy in Vincennes, Nuñez said the day's key words would be mobility, responsiveness and adaptability, so officers could act against high-risk groups. He said forces must be absolutely uncompromising and extremely quick to respond.

Criticism and bans

The minister announced on Friday that 70,000 officers would be deployed, 10,000 more than the previous weekend. Nuñez was heavily criticized over last Saturday's protests and has been accused of underestimating both the number of demonstrators and the risk of violence.

The government has imposed local curfews and banned public demonstrations in several cities, including Lyon and the centers of Nice and Lille. President Emmanuel Macron also instructed local authorities to ban Saturday protests other than those organized by unions. Unions, left-wing parties and human rights groups reacted angrily. Amnesty International called the bans "serious restrictions of the right to protest" and warned of a "slide toward authoritarian practices."

Manon Aubry, a member of the European Parliament for the left-wing Unbowed party, said on social media that power prefers to barricade itself behind armored vehicles rather than listen to citizens' legitimate demands. The party's leader and presidential candidate, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, backed the school protests ahead of last weekend's riots but sought to distance himself from the violence.

Orléans march and Trappes shooting

Most protests are expected in the afternoon. In Orléans, a Loire Valley city where Marine Le Pen's National Rally is holding a party conference this weekend, more than 10,000 people joined an authorized anti-far-right march. A banned protest is expected on Sunday, when the far-right leader is due to formally launch her presidential bid.

On Friday, France was also shaken by a deadly drive-by shooting in Trappes, which prosecutors are investigating as a terrorist hate crime. Local authorities said a 12-year-old girl was among the injured. Macron called it a turning point, saying it was the first planned terrorist act intended to kill citizens because of their skin color or attributed religion. Several leading political figures criticized his description of it as the "first."

Cost-of-living demonstrations have also swept parts of Europe in recent weeks, with Spain, Italy and Albania affected.