FAR-RIGHT CONGRESS A POSSIBLE FLASHPOINT
Nunez said 10,000 more police would be on the streets than a week ago, while mounted police, helicopters, drones and anti-drone systems would be deployed across the country.
Armoured vehicles and water cannon vehicles would also be available, while curfews imposed in some sensitive areas this past week would remain in force.
Authorities are also concerned that the annual congress of Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Rally in Orleans this weekend could become a flashpoint, with left-wing and anti-racist groups announcing counter-demonstrations.
The upsurge of violence has boosted poll ratings for Le Pen, who is the frontrunner for next year’s presidential election. She has portrayed the unrest as evidence of a collapse in state authority.
Fears of renewed turmoil prompted several of Paris’ best-known cultural institutions, including the Louvre, the Musée d’Orsay and the Opera House, to close all day on Saturday.
Paris St Germain’s home Ligue 1 football match with Olympique Lyonnais was shifted from Sunday to Monday over security concerns. However, an NFL regular-season game between the Pittsburgh Steelers and New Orleans Saints is still scheduled to be played in Paris on Sunday, although US President Donald Trump suggested it should be cancelled.
Business groups also urged shops to stay shut after some 3,000 stores and businesses were ransacked last weekend.
Alain Di Crescenzo, the president of France’s chamber of commerce, said some shopkeepers were arming themselves with baseball bats, crowbars and shotguns to protect their properties. But he urged them not to turn to violence.
“It’s extremely worrying,” he told Europe 1 radio. “It’s not their job to do that. It would add suffering onto suffering.”
The social turbulence has intensified scrutiny of France’s economic outlook and ratings agency Moody’s is widely expected to cut the French credit rating on Friday, underscoring concern that the government had not reined in public spending.
