French police arrested 135 people during nationwide cost-of-living demonstrations on 24 October, as authorities deployed 70,000 officers to prevent a repeat of the previous weekend’s violence, Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez said, according to Reuters.
The arrests followed searches that uncovered fireworks, metal ball bearings and other items that police considered potential weapons. Authorities also seized ammunition, slingshots and homemade weapons, according to Nuñez.
The government increased the nationwide deployment by 10,000 police officers and gendarmes compared with 17 October, when demonstrations over living costs and public services were accompanied by clashes, fires and looting in several French cities.
“We have to be ultra, ultra responsive. We have significant calls for disruption from political groups and quite simply from criminals,” Nuñez told reporters, Reuters reported.
France’s Interior Ministry had announced additional security measures before the demonstrations, including checks at railway stations and transport routes to identify people carrying items that could be used in violence. The ministry also instructed local authorities to assess proposed protest routes and consider restrictions where officials anticipated further looting or property damage.
The measures followed the unrest of 17 October, which prompted authorities to prepare for another day of demonstrations. On 24 October, the main march in Paris began peacefully, although police fired tear gas at crowds in Lyon, France’s third-largest city, Reuters reported.
Shops boarded up their windows in central Paris, more than 20 metro stations closed, and several major cultural institutions shut for the day as a precaution. The Louvre and Musée d’Orsay were among the institutions that closed, according to Reuters.
Three more people detained over shooting
Separately, France’s National Anti-Terrorism Prosecutor’s Office continued investigating a shooting that killed one person and injured five others in the suburbs west of Paris on 23 October.
Three people from the suspected gunman’s family or social circle were placed in police custody in connection with the investigation, La Dépêche du Midi reported, citing information from BFMTV. The report said the suspect’s mother was among those detained. The suspect’s own period in police custody was also extended.
The shooting occurred at three locations in Trappes and neighbouring La Verrière, around 30 kilometres from Paris. A gunman fired from a vehicle over approximately 15 minutes before police arrested him, according to the Associated Press.
The five injured people included a 12-year-old girl. Three of the injured were reported to have life-threatening injuries, French Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez said, according to the Associated Press.
President Emmanuel Macron described the shooting as “a racist terror attack” during a visit to Trappes on 23 October. He said the victims had been targeted because of their skin colour or perceived religion, according to the Associated Press.
The anti-terrorism prosecutor’s office opened an investigation into suspected murder and attempted murder linked to a terrorist enterprise, with a possible aggravating circumstance involving the victims’ actual or perceived race, ethnicity, nationality or religion.
Investigators also found a Sten-type submachine gun in the suspect’s vehicle and a device involving gas cylinders, electrical wires and a timer at his home, according to the Associated Press.
The shooting investigation remains separate from the demonstrations over living costs. The nationwide security operation continued as authorities sought to prevent further clashes and damage to businesses.
