(Paris) Some 45,000 police and gendarmes, elite units and armored vehicles on the bridge every evening from Thursday evening to Saturday morning: in the wake of the recent riots, the government has deployed major means to try to contain the traditional July 14 National Day incidents.
For the first time on July 14, the special forces of the police and the gendarmerie, as well as the helicopters and the armored vehicles of the gendarmerie will be engaged in the municipalities most at risk.
“We are not afraid of anything, we are simply cautious”, assured Thursday the prefect of police of Paris Laurent Nuñez, regretting that urban violence is “unfortunately part of the traditions” of July 14.
Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin announced on Wednesday the renewal of the system deployed during the violence following the death of a 17-year-old teenager, killed by the shooting of a police officer during a road check on June 27.
Each evening, an “exceptional device” of 45,000 police and gendarmes will be mobilized, ie 130,000 for the entire extended weekend.
For the Paris conurbation alone, 10,000 police and gendarmes will be on the ground.
Some 40,000 firefighters will also be mobilized every night in the event of fires in garbage cans, cars or buildings.
Since the NATO summit in Vilnius, Lithuania, Emmanuel Macron has promised to act “with the greatest determination” in the event of incidents.
“If there were any overflow, we would intervene with the greatest determination so that all of our fellow citizens could live in peace,” assured the Head of State.
Justice Minister Eric Dupond-Moretti said he would send a new note to the prosecutor’s office asking for a “rapid, systematic and firm” judicial response.
“If by chance some wanted to spoil the party, […] justice will be there, ”he promised Thursday afternoon.
Throughout the country, with some exceptions, buses and trams will stop again earlier in the evening, from 10 p.m.
Due to the urban violence that shook the country, several municipalities have decided to give up their fireworks or the firefighters’ ball, especially in the Paris region and in the north of the country.
Fireworks mortars
In Paris, the traditional fireworks will be fired Friday evening from the Eiffel Tower. It will be preceded by a great classical concert with the Orchester national de France, on the theme of fraternity.
“We particularly need these moments of gathering with family or friends. It is also the image of France in the world one year from the Olympic and Paralympic Games in Paris ”, pleaded the cabinet of the mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo.
The authorities reiterated their determination to enforce the decree prohibiting until Saturday the sale of all pyrotechnic articles, including the firework “mortars” used by the rioters as weapons against the police or to set fire to buildings .
A total of “150,000 fireworks mortars” have been seized since June 27, welcomed Gérald Darmanin on Wednesday.
Manufacturers of pyrotechnic equipment have questioned the effectiveness of this ban, judging like the manager of the French company Jacques Prévot Artifices, Thibaut Prévot, that it has fed “a real black market” in particular on social networks such as Snapchat or Telegram.
Seized urgently by importers and distributors of fireworks, the Council of State, the highest French administrative court, largely validated Thursday the legality of the prohibition decree.
To ensure calm, Gérald Darmanin said on Wednesday that a demonstration against police violence organized on Saturday in Paris would be prohibited, as well as all those “directly linked to the riots”.
In 2022, according to the Ministry of the Interior, 807 people were arrested in France following incidents that occurred on the sidelines of the July 14 festivities, 749 vehicles burned and 55 members of the police injured.