France and Italy brace for Saturday protests with 70,000 police on the streets

Security build-up in France

France expects a fourth weekend of nationwide demonstrations on Saturday, 24 October, called by high school pupils, students, trade unions and people opposed to rising living costs. Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez has said 70,000 officers will be deployed, 10,000 more than on 17 October. Authorities are backing them with horse units, helicopters, drones, anti-drone systems, armoured vehicles and water cannon trucks. The protests are being coordinated through a website that refers to the yellow vest movement of 2018-19.

France, nationwide70,000

Rome city centre1,500

France, nationwide

70000 officers

Rome city centre

1500 officers

Data from the article text

Bans and route limits

Total bans have been imposed in Paris, Strasbourg, Toulouse and Amiens, while Lyon, Nice and Montpellier have banned assemblies. Unions have criticised the bans as a breach of freedom of expression protected by the constitution. In Paris the CGT union has been allowed to march, while yellow vest protesters were refused permission. Police moved the Paris route at the last moment, away from Place de la Bastille, and allowed marches to begin only at Porte de Vincennes and Porte d'Italie in the south of the city. In Marseille a union demonstration was ultimately permitted despite an earlier ban.

Paris closures and retail

The Louvre and the Musée d'Orsay will be closed on Saturday, and 24 metro stations will be taken out of service, including those near the Champs-Élysées, the parliament building and Place de la Concorde. The Ligue 1 match between Paris Saint-Germain and Olympique Lyon, originally scheduled for Sunday, was moved to Monday over security concerns. Luxury boutiques across the country are boarding up their windows and hiring private guards, while the Printemps department store has added security staff and reinforced its shop fronts and entrances. Trade bodies have urged shopkeepers not to open, even though the weekend before 1 November is usually busy with customers.

Italy on alert

Rome, Milan and other Italian cities have been placed on the highest alert before Saturday demonstrations called by the so-called 17 October Movement. The group, which has been organising online, announced protests in Rome, Milan, Turin, Genoa, Florence, Padua, Bologna and Bari. Little is known about it beyond its formation after violent clashes in Milan, where officers and police cars were attacked and shops looted, with most of those detained being minors. TVP Info reports that anarchists and other radical circles are believed to be among its members. In Rome, 1,500 officers will guard the centre and main shopping streets, supported by drones, helicopters and cybersecurity specialists monitoring social media. In Milan, reinforced police patrols and soldiers will cover the area from the main railway station to the centre. On Friday, 23 October, Italian services detained around 100 people, half of them minors.

Timeline of the movement

The French protests began in September with school blockades and spread nationwide, with demands for more teachers, smaller classes and better school buildings. The demonstrations of 17 October drew 550,000 people, according to Rzeczpospolita. The next major step is the Paris union march, scheduled to start at 14:00 on Saturday, 24 October.