Macron’s Eight-Minute Speech Fails to Sway Protesters
Macron’s eight-minute speech on Sunday failed to impress French protesters. They have called for a new mobilisation on October 24. The authorities have announced their own response. The coming weekend could be even more tense than the last one.
Authorities have already imposed curfews in central streets of major cities. The article describes this as the first such measure since the Vichy regime during the German occupation. But officials apparently consider curfews insufficient.
Now they plan to deploy soldiers in cities to support the police. During the previous weekend’s protests, police officers sometimes appeared to struggle to maintain control.
Laurent Nuñez, who has resigned as interior minister but has not yet left office, said troops would guard key sites. This would free up police officers to maintain order on the streets.
Officials have not disclosed how many soldiers will be deployed or where they will be stationed. Nuñez said police would take a very tough approach to the protests. Meanwhile, the Paris police prefecture is urgently calling up reservists for duty on October 24.
The protests on October 17 were the largest in decades. Estimates of the number of participants range from 500,000 to 800,000. Authorities detained 2,397 people.
