90,000 police officers and gendarmes will be mobilized throughout France

In Paris, 6,000 police officers and gendarmes will be deployed, while more than 1.5 million people are expected on the Champs-Elysées, according to Gérald Darmanin.

The Minister of the Interior promises “great presence and great firmness” for the evening of December 31. In total, 90,000 members of the police will be deployed throughout the country on New Year’s Eve, announced Céline Berthon, the deputy director general of the national police, during a press conference on Friday December 29. Among them, 6,000 police officers and gendarmes will be deployed in Paris, where more than 1.5 million people are expected on the Champs-Elysées, according to Gérald Darmanin.

In the capital, the security perimeter around the Champs-Elysées has been extended, going from the famous avenue to Avenue de la Grande Armée, detailed Laurent Nunez, the Paris police prefect. Stops and searches of the public will be put in place. Alcohol consumption will be there, “like other years”prohibited, as are glass bottles and the sale of alcohol to take away, firecrackers, fireworks or objects that could be used as weapons, such as knives.

The Minister of the Interior specified, “in a context of very high terrorist threat”that “5,000 soldiers from Operation Sentinel” And “73 units of mobile forces including five units of the new CRS8” were part of the system. “Protest demonstrations will be prohibited”, added Laurent Nunez. In addition, significant police forces will be deployed at the Champs de Mars, Trocadéro, as well as in transport.

Drones and helicopters will be part of the party

For the first time, the police will be able to fly drones, as was the case to secure the Rugby World Cup, noted the tenant of Place Beauvau, also mentioning the use of around ten helicopters on the territory. Among them, two machines of the gendarmerie begin to fly over the districts of the Paris metropolitan area on Friday morning “until late Sunday evening”specified the Paris police prefect.

Laurent Nunez adds that “visits in the neighborhoods” are also carried out by law enforcement, “in common areas and building roofs, so as to avoid any unrest and urban violence”while the festivities take place six months after the urban riots which followed the death of Nahel in Nanterre.

The minister also insisted on the mobilization of law enforcement agencies overseas, particularly in Guyana and Mayotte, as well as in two mainland cities, Charleville-Mézières and Romans-sur-Isère.