French Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez told police forces to be “uncompromising” with potential rioters on Saturday, ahead of a day of protests that is leaving the country on edge.
The fresh day of protests comes a week after scenes of looting and clashes between police and protesters on the sidelines of peaceful marches.
“Today’s key words will be mobility, responsiveness and adaptability, so we can really act against high-risk groups… We must be absolutely uncompromising and hyper, hyper, hyper-responsive,” Nuñez said during a visit on Saturday to the National Police Academy in Vincennes.
Nuñez was heavily criticized for his handling of last Saturday’s protests, and has been accused of underestimating both the number of protesters and the potential for violent incidents. He announced on Friday that 70,000 police officers would be deployed, 10,000 more than last weekend.
The government has since imposed local curfews and banned public demonstrations in several cities including Lyon and the city centers of Nice or Lille. Macron also instructed local authorities to ban protests on Saturday except those organized by unions.
The move drew backlash from unions, left-wing parties and human rights groups such as Amnesty International, which called the bans “serious restrictions of the right to protest,” and warned against a “slide toward authoritarian practices.”
While most protests are expected in the afternoon, more than 10,000 people took part in an authorized anti-far-right march in Orléans, the Loire Valley city where Marine Le Pen’s National Rally is holding a party conference over the weekend. A banned protest is also expected on Sunday, when the far-right leader is set to formally launch her presidential bid.
“Power prefers to barricade itself behind armored vehicles rather than listen to the legitimate demands of citizens,” said Manon Aubry, an MEP from the left-wing Unbowed party, in a post on social media. The party is led by presidential candidate Jean-Luc Mélenchon, who supported the school protests in the run-up to last weekend’s riots, but sought to distance himself from the violence.
France was also rocked by a deadly drive-by shooting in Trappes on Friday, which is investigated as a terrorist hate crime by prosecutors. A 12-year-old girl was among those injured, according to local authorities.
“This is a turning point because it is the first time there has been a terrorist act planned to kill our fellow citizens, our children, because of their skin color or the religion attributed to them,” Macron said after visiting the scene on Friday evening.
His remarks quickly sparked criticism from several leading political figures, who slammed his description of it as the “first” terrorist act motivated by a person’s skin color or religion.
Cost-of-living demonstrations have swept part of Europe in recent weeks, with similar grievances bringing people to the streets in Spain, Italy and Albania.