STORY: Police were deployed across Paris on Friday (October 23) as the city prepared for expected protests over the weekend.

France will deploy 70,000 police officers nationwide for demonstrations on Saturday (October 24), Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said on Friday, in an effort to prevent a repeat of the violence and looting that shocked the country last weekend.

Elite security units and heavily armed mobile squads will be deployed alongside regular police forces in a show of force aimed at reassuring the public and dispelling fears that the government has lost control of the streets.

Anger over rising living costs and strained public services has drawn students, workers and trade unions to the streets in recent weeks. Authorities say radical militants and groups of young looters have exploited the unrest to spark violence and disorder.

Some far-right politicians have blamed migrants and radical Islam for the turmoil, accusations that President Emmanuel Macron has dismissed.

DESCRIPCIÓN DE IMÁGENES

SHOWS: PARIS, FRANCE (OCTOBER 23, 2026) (REUTERS - Access all)

1. VARIOUS OF CARS DRIVING BY PLACE DE LA RÉPUBLIQUE MOMENTS BEFORE CURFEW BEGINS

2. FRENCH FLAG ON PLACE DE LA RÉPUBLIQUE STRUCTURE READING (French): “DEATH TO THE POLICE”

3. POLICE VANS PARKED

4. POLICE STANDING OUTSIDE RÉPUBLIQUE METRO STATION

5. SIGNAGE FOR “RÉPUBLIQUE” METRO STATION

6. POLICE STANDING OUTSIDE RÉPUBLIQUE METRO STATION

7. PLACE DE LA RÉPUBLIQUE

8. POLICE WALKING AROUND PLACE DE LA RÉPUBLIQUE

9. POLICE PATROLLING AS CURFEW BEGINS

10. POLICE WALKING DURING CURFEW

11. VARIOUS OF POLICE CORDONING OFF PLACE DE LA RÉPUBLIQUE

12. PEOPLE WAITING TO CROSS THE STREET

13. POLICE VANS

14. POLICE WITH TAPE THAT INDICATES CORDONED OFF AREA

15. CARS PASSING BY CORDONED OFF AREA

16. POLICE TYING RED-AND-WHITE TAPE

17. CORDONED OFF PLACE DE LA RÉPUBLIQUE