A vast security operation across France
Roughly 70,000 police officers and gendarmes are being assigned to duty throughout France on Saturday, October 24, 2026, according to Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez. He told a news conference that the operation would also draw on helicopters, armored vehicles and water cannons, with elite units tasked with guarding public buildings such as town halls in what he described as a highly mobile deployment.[S1][S8]
Nuñez said radical far-left groups had issued many online appeals for violence and vandalism, and that calls for looting had resurfaced, messages he attributed to rioters. He pledged that the state would show no compromise toward anyone involved in violence, saying arrests would be pursued firmly and would carry legal consequences.[S1]
Museums close and Art Basel Paris cuts its weekend
The Culture Ministry told The Associated Press that the Louvre, the Orsay and Picasso museums, together with the Grand Palais, would not open. The ministry urged every institution under its authority to take whatever steps were needed to safeguard visitors, protect staff and preserve artworks.[S1]
Art Basel Paris, which brings 211 international galleries to the Grand Palais, had admitted visitors by invitation only for two days before opening to the public on Friday. Organizers then cancelled the weekend program because of the threat of unrest, stating that the choice had been difficult and that the safety of everyone connected to the fair came first.[S1]
Who is marching, and why
People taking to the streets on Saturday are demonstrating against the steep cost of living. Those expected to join include students, CGT union members and yellow vest activists, a movement whose protests over social injustice rocked France in 2018 and 2019. The week before, rallies turned into some of the most severe violence the country has seen in years, with fires lit, government buildings overrun, storefronts shattered, goods stolen and confrontations with officers.[S1]
Some visitors backed the decision to shut the fair. Saloni Doshi, an art collector who flew in from India, said she had grown anxious the previous week as she watched fires and panicked crowds, and had fielded calls from friends asking whether Paris was safe. Antoine Donzeaud and Elisa Rigoulet, who own the gallery exo exo, said in a text message that they found the closure reasonable and in keeping with the urgency of the social demands now unfolding in France.[S1]
