France Deploys 70,000 Officers as Protest Wave Returns; Louvre and Museums Shut

PARIS — France deployed around 70,000 police officers and gendarmes across the country on Saturday as authorities braced for a new round of cost-of-living protests, and shut the Louvre and several other major Paris museums in a bid to avoid a repeat of last week’s unrest.

Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez said the force would be backed by helicopters, armored vehicles and water cannons, with elite police units assigned to protect public buildings, including city halls. At a news conference, he said police had seen “numerous calls from radical far-left groups on social media to commit acts of violence and vandalism,” along with renewed calls for looting. “We will be absolutely uncompromising” with anyone involved in violence, he said, warning of firm arrests and legal consequences.

The mobilization comes a week after demonstrations across France descended into fires, looting, smashed shop windows and clashes with police — some of the worst unrest the country has seen in years. Today’s protests are expected to draw students, members of the CGT labor union and activists from the yellow vest movement. Authorities have banned some demonstrations on security grounds in Lyon, Nice and Montpellier, but marches are expected to go ahead in Paris, Marseille and other cities.

Museums, art fair and sport shut down

France’s Culture Ministry told the Associated Press that the Louvre, the Orsay and Picasso museums and the Grand Palais would stay closed on Saturday, and urged institutions under its authority to protect visitors, staff and artworks. Organizers of Art Basel Paris, the contemporary art fair now in its public days, canceled its weekend program over unrest concerns; the fair features 211 international galleries at the Grand Palais.

Paris police also asked for Sunday’s Paris Saint-Germain soccer match to be postponed, saying security resources were stretched thin. The NFL, which is staging its first-ever game in Paris on Sunday between the Pittsburgh Steelers and the New Orleans Saints, said the game would go ahead and that safety for players and fans was assured. President Donald Trump told reporters on Friday that the league “could’ve probably postponed that match.”

A wider wave across Europe

The unrest in France is part of a broader wave of protests across Europe, driven in large part by young people angry over housing costs, education funding and the cost of living. In France, the current wave began with student demonstrations in support of striking teachers; protests have also drawn crowds in Belgium, Italy, Portugal, Spain and Greece, and major unions have called further action in the weeks ahead.

Authorities are separately watching a demonstration planned for Saturday in Orléans, where about 50 organizations have called for a protest against the far right alongside a congress of Marine Le Pen’s nationalist party, which is preparing for next spring’s presidential election. The regional prefect said 20,000 to 30,000 demonstrators were expected. Le Pen, whose movement leads early polling for the presidency, accused left-wing organizations of trying to “disrupt a political party’s democratic congress” in an interview with broadcaster Franceinfo.

Reporting based on coverage by the Associated Press, CNN and Fox News.