French authorities tightened restrictions on demonstrations across the country on October 24, moving a Paris march toward the city’s outskirts and banning protests in central areas of several major cities as security forces prepared for a second weekend of unrest.
More than 70,000 police officers and gendarmes were set to deploy nationwide—20 percent more than during the previous weekend, according to Al Jazeera’s report. The operation also included the RAID elite police unit in a support role, although Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said its officers would not directly handle crowd control.
In Paris, authorities rejected the originally negotiated route between Place de la Bastille and Place de la Nation. Al Jazeera reported that a union-led march was due to travel from Porte d’Italie to Porte de Vincennes along the Boulevards des Marechaux, under conditions set by authorities. France 24 later reported that the protest started at Porte d’Italie. Demonstrations were also prohibited in downtown Montpellier, Rouen and Nice, while Lyon banned protests in its city centre and Marseille authorised a union march under strict conditions, Al Jazeera reported.
The restrictions were followed by clashes in Lyon. France 24 reported that police used tear gas to disperse around 150 people who had gathered to demonstrate despite the ban. The outlet also said the Louvre, Musée d’Orsay and Picasso museums were closed, while many luxury shops shut or boarded up their windows after the previous weekend’s looting.
The measures followed October 17 protests that drew more than half a million people and included looting, vandalism and clashes. French President Emmanuel Macron met student representatives on Friday and promised more teachers and a major overhaul of the university-admissions system Parcoursup, but student leaders called for continued mobilisation until concrete action was announced, Al Jazeera reported.
Amnesty International France said the security escalation threatened the right to demonstrate peacefully. The fetched reports did not establish the final scale of arrests or further violence during the October 24 protests.