France Deploys 70,000 Officers as New Protest Wave Tests Economic Stability

France has mobilized a massive security force for Saturday's demonstrations, a week after unrest left shops looted and vehicles burned.

Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez stated that up to 70,000 officers will be deployed across the country to manage the fresh round of protests. These personnel will be supported by helicopters, armored vehicles, and water cannons to ensure order in major cities.

In central Paris, a small number of gendarmes were posted beneath the Arc de Triomphe and along nearby avenues on Friday. Police authorities changed the planned route for the march, confining it to the city's southeastern edge between Porte d'Italie and Porte de Vincennes. This adjustment moved the path away from the originally planned route from Bastille to Nation. Last week's protests drew more than half a million people, and another large crowd is expected for this weekend's event.

The movement began last month over staff shortages at one high school southeast of Paris but has grown well beyond that initial scope. Students are demanding more teachers, better school buildings, and more university places. Unions are seeking higher wages and pensions to help households cope with rising living costs. Student groups have outlined a joint 10-point plan that calls for 250,000 additional higher education places and an end to selection through the Parcoursup admissions system. They also want an extra 200 euros, or about 313 Canadian dollars, per month in student grants and a rent freeze in public student housing.

Cultural venues and businesses are feeling the strain of the ongoing unrest. The Louvre, Musée d'Orsay, Picasso Museum, and Grand Palais, which is hosting a major Cézanne exhibit, are all closed on Saturday. Art Basel opened to the public on Friday for a single day, and organizers cancelled the weekend program due to the threat of unrest. Shopkeepers have been barricading their stores all week. Contractor Akram Ahmed, 34, was boarding up an optician's shop near Saint-Lazare station on Friday. He noted, "I got the call last night," adding that the owner told him he was saving his life. About 3,000 shops across France were damaged or looted last weekend.

Not every rally is allowed to proceed. Marches are scheduled in Paris and Marseille, but local authorities banned others, including in Lyon, Nice, and Montpellier. French media reported that police used tear gas in Lyon on Saturday morning. Trade unions have criticized the bans as violations of freedom of expression, which the constitution protects. Outside the capital, the damage has been serious. French media reported that two suspects in the fire that nearly destroyed the 19th-century city hall in Limoges were placed under formal investigation and held pending trial. The probe includes attempted murder of a public official. Paris police prefect Patrice Faure urged shopkeepers to hire security guards, then clarified that protecting businesses is the government's responsibility.

President Emmanuel Macron, a centrist, faces the crisis in the final stretch of his term, with his popularity at its lowest since he took office in 2017. He has said the measures are needed to protect city centres, businesses, and public buildings. In Orléans, about 110 kilometers south of Paris, thousands gathered for an anti-far-right protest held alongside a two-day congress of Marine Le Pen's nationalist, anti-immigration party. This event took place ahead of next spring's presidential election. Victoria Ambrosini, an art critic and art teacher at Saint-Denis University, said money is now "concentrated in the hands of very few people," adding, "it's not possible anymore."