Security Mobilisation and Closed Transport
Roughly 70,000 security officers are set to be stationed throughout France on Saturday, the same figure as the previous week, as officials work to head off any recurrence of the disturbances seen on October 17. In Paris, upwards of 40 metro stops are expected to close and tram routes will be affected. A curfew from 11:00 pm until 6:00 am will be enforced in the Republique and Chatelet-Les Halles districts on Saturday and Sunday nights, and the mayor's office said more than 1,000 municipal staff would be on duty over the weekend to clean public areas.[S1]
On Thursday the interior minister cautioned that the danger of public disorder was very high, noting that rallies could go ahead but not within city centres. The Paris police prefecture tried to block marchers from proceeding between Bastille and Nation in the east of the capital, but a court struck down the prohibition. An aide to Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said officials expected street violence on a scale similar to the unrest a fortnight earlier, when images of clashes, ransacked shops and burning public buildings were seen around the world.[S1][S4][S7]
Halloween, Masks and Nervous Authorities
Officials say they have detected social media appeals for Halloween gatherings on Saturday evening that urge protesters to ignite a revolution, with some posts calling on people to dress up and assemble for a night of darkness. Nunez said demonstrators would not be permitted to wear masks that conceal their faces. A police source described considerable nervousness within the authorities and said there was no reason to believe the day would pass smoothly.[S1][S5][S6]
Business owners are anxious. Alain Di Crescenzo, president of France's chamber of commerce, told broadcaster France Inter that shopkeepers cannot wait for Saturday to be over, and that the information available suggested Halloween was making matters worse because people would be wearing masks. Some shops and other businesses around the country boarded up their storefronts before the demonstrations. On a plywood panel protecting a Paris business, a message in black read that behind the boards there was neither power nor an enemy, only a family and its work.[S1]
On Friday in Paris, shoppers packed a costume store. Its manager, Didier Jarsale, said it was not his responsibility to question each buyer about how they planned to use their purchases, and that the shop's role was not to function as a police force.[S1]
A Movement That Broadened Its Demands
The movement unites Yellow Vest campaigners, labour unions, and secondary and university students. Its original focus was the climbing cost of living, inequality and worsening study conditions, and it emerged from weeks of school student demonstrations demanding better learning conditions. Following a security crackdown and severe injuries suffered by some demonstrators, the movement expanded its goals to call for stronger safeguards of civil liberties and the right to protest.[S1][S3][S8]
The disturbances come as political tensions mount, with a presidential election half a year away and far-right leader Marine Le Pen ahead in the polls. President Emmanuel Macron remarked this week that it was not normal for France to go through such turmoil so near to a presidential vote. The authorities have conceded that security and intelligence lapses contributed to the clashes, looting and vandalism of October 17, and have since curbed demonstrations and imposed curfews in a number of cities.[S1]
The country was also shaken last week by a shooting outside Paris that killed one person and wounded seven, among them an 11-year-old girl. Most of the victims were of foreign background, and the attack prompted rallies against the normalisation of racist hatred.[S1]
