Further Protests Put France on Maximum Alert
Protests are due to take place again in France on Saturday (24 October). The country is now on maximum alert after similar demonstrations last week led to rioting.
On Saturday (17 October), France was hit by a wave of unrest involving arson and looting, in what was described as the country’s worst such violence in several years. The unrest came exactly six months before an election to choose a successor to President Emmanuel Macron.
In response, the authorities decided to place France on maximum alert.
“We are at the highest alert level,” Jean-Didier Berger, France’s delegate minister at the Ministry of the Interior, told leading television channel BFMTV, according to Anadolu Agency on Friday (23 October 2026).
Berger said the government “is ruling nothing out in the coming days and weeks” if it considers it necessary to ban gatherings or cultural and sporting events.
He also said the number of security personnel deployed on Saturday (24 October) would be “20 per cent higher” than on 17 October, when demonstrations in France were accompanied by riots, arson and widespread looting.
“We have cancelled leave. We have recalled personnel who were due to be on leave, and they will no longer be taking it,” Berger said.
As part of security measures for Saturday (24 October), France’s elite Operation Sentinelle, GIGN and RAID units will also be deployed.
Operation Sentinelle is France’s military counter-terrorism operation. GIGN — short for Groupe d’intervention de la Gendarmerie nationale — is an elite tactical paramilitary unit under the French National Gendarmerie, while RAID is an elite tactical unit of the French National Police.
President Emmanuel Macron announced at a security council meeting that demonstrations not organised by trade unions would be banned for the next few days, particularly on 24 October.
Protests Banned in Several Areas
Paris police announced a curfew from 11pm to 6am local time for adults and minors in the area around Place de la République and Les Halles. It will run from Thursday night (22 October) until Sunday (25 October).
Museums including the Louvre, the Musée d’Orsay and the Picasso Museum will be closed throughout Saturday (24 October), local time.
The French authorities have approved a demonstration in Paris, running from Bastille to Nation along a route proposed by the CGT trade union. The “Yellow Vests” coordinating group will also join, after its proposed route from Bastille to the Opéra was rejected.
Protests are banned across Lyon, in central Toulon and in parts of Lille on Saturday (24 October).
Demonstrations are also prohibited in parts of Paris from 8am to 8pm local time. According to AFP, the restricted areas include key locations in the French capital, including the Élysée Palace, both parliamentary buildings and popular tourist destinations such as the Louvre and the Champs-Élysées.
Other areas where demonstrations are banned include the squares at Bastille and République, and the Châtelet–Les Halles shopping district, which was a major target for looting the previous weekend.
The French authorities have admitted they “lost control” during the unrest that broke out in the streets last weekend, when groups of masked youths clashed with police, looted shops and damaged public buildings.
Justice Minister Gérald Darmanin said police had detained 2,700 people since Saturday (17 October), of whom 217 had been sent to prison.
French PM Plans Large-Scale Police Deployment
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu has pledged to deploy a large number of police officers to deal with further protests, following last week’s demonstrations and riots.
Lecornu acknowledged that the previous security response had been inadequate and promised a tougher approach to the next wave of protests, AFP reported on Wednesday (21 October 2026.
“The deployment of officers for this coming Saturday (24 October) will be on a large scale,” the French prime minister said.
He accused far-left radical groups of drawing up a “plan for insurrection” that sparked the unrest.
Images of clashes between protesters and police, crowds looting shops — including luxury boutiques — and buildings being set alight last weekend prompted several countries, including the United States and China, to issue travel advisories for their citizens.
On Monday (19 October), the French authorities announced partial curfews in Paris and several other cities. Lecornu said additional curfews would be imposed on Tuesday (20 October) in locations where necessary.