France Deploys 70,000 Officers as Paris Marches Shift to City Edge

French authorities moved the main Saturday demonstration to the edge of Paris on Friday.

The shift places the march between Porte d'Italie and Porte de Vincennes instead of the planned route from Bastille to Nation.

Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez confirmed that up to 70,000 police officers will be deployed across the country.

The force includes support from helicopters, armored vehicles, and water cannons.

A week prior, unrest resulted in looted stores and burned vehicles, drawing more than half a million participants.

Student groups and unions are demanding higher wages, improved school infrastructure, and increased university capacity.

A joint 10-point plan calls for 250,000 new higher education places and an end to the Parcoursup admissions system.

The plan also seeks a 200 euro monthly increase in student grants and a rent freeze for public housing.

Major cultural sites in Paris, including the Louvre and Musée d'Orsay, closed for the day.

Art Basel opened to the public for a single day on Friday before organizers cancelled the weekend program.

Shopkeepers in central Paris began boarding up windows after last weekend's damage affected about 3,000 stores nationwide.

Akram Ahmed, a 34-year-old contractor, boarded an optician's shop near Saint-Lazare station on Friday night at the owner's request to save the business and his life, he said in a statement to reporters on site that evening. Local officials banned marches in Lyon, Nice, and Montpellier, while police in Lyon used tear gas on Saturday morning, according to French media reports. Unions argued that these bans violate the constitutional right to freedom of expression. In Limoges, two suspects were placed under formal investigation for the fire that damaged the 19th-century city hall, with charges including attempted murder of a public official. Paris police prefect Patrice Faure advised shopkeepers to hire security guards before clarifying that the government bears the primary responsibility for protecting businesses. President Emmanuel Macron, whose popularity has reached its lowest point since taking office in 2017, stated that the security measures are necessary to protect city centers and public buildings. In Orléans, thousands gathered for an anti-far-right protest held alongside a congress for Marine Le Pen's party. Victoria Ambrosini, an art critic and teacher at Saint-Denis University, noted that wealth is currently concentrated in the hands of very few people, stating that the current situation is no longer possible.