Laurent Nunez announced stronger armoured-vehicle and water-cannon measures and restrictions on city-centre demonstrations for October 31, when yellow vest and student groups plan to protest living costs.
France’s Interior Minister Laurent Nunez announced on October 29 that about 70,000 police officers and gendarmes would be mobilised nationwide for the October 31 protests. He said demonstrations could proceed, but not in city centres where there was a risk of public disorder, Al Jazeera said in its October 29 report.
The planned deployment matches the previous week’s numbers. Nunez said measures involving armoured vehicles and water cannon, introduced that week, would be strengthened. The announcements follow nationwide protests over rising living costs, some of which developed into large-scale looting and riots.
The yellow vest movement and student unions have called for another day of demonstrations. The movement describes it as a “third act” and has called for gatherings outside France’s National Assembly and town halls throughout the country. The protests also oppose insufficient education resources, Public Sénat said on October 30.
France’s Interior Ministry estimated that about 410,000 people joined the October 24 demonstrations nationwide; unions put turnout at roughly twice that number.
Nunez previously served as Paris police prefect in 2022–2025, before becoming interior minister.
Nunez assessed October 31 as presenting a “very high risk of public disorder”. He warned demonstrators against treating Halloween as a legitimate reason to conceal their faces to cause disturbances in public places.
Ukraine’s October 24 announcement followed losses of drone control above about 150 km/h. Its Defence Ministry said restored links mattered for frontline drone operations, logistics and communications.
Nunez also warned far-right groups following clashes with left-wing protesters at rallies in about 15 French cities. He said no excesses would be tolerated and promised an “extremely firm” response.
The Paris Police Prefecture issued an October 30 order barring the proposed central routes and substituting a route along the city’s edge, Public Sénat said. The City of Lyon also published details of a city-centre ban and an authorised march. These are orders for October 31, rather than accounts of police enforcing them.
| City | Restriction | Authorised march |
|---|---|---|
| Paris | The proposed Bastille-to-Nation and Bastille-to-Concorde routes are prohibited. | Porte de Bagnolet to Porte de Charenton along the boulevards des Maréchaux, with departure planned for 14:00. |
| Lyon | An October 29 Rhône Prefecture order bans demonstrations, processions and protest gatherings on public roads within a defined broad city-centre perimeter from 10:00 to 23:00. | A union march from the Manufacture des Tabacs to Place Jean Macé, scheduled to depart at 14:00. |
Paris authorities also ordered a 23:00–06:00 curfew in the Place de la République and Châtelet–Les Halles sectors for the nights of October 31–November 1 and November 1–2.
Some local policing changes are already in place. The City of Lyon said it had reinforced municipal police presence in shopping streets from October 19, including doubling nighttime staffing, and was maintaining that reinforcement.
Paris Police Prefecture spokesperson Hélène Denéchère said the alternative route was easier to secure and less exposed for shopkeepers.
The inter-union coalition called the repeated route changes unacceptable and accused the prefecture of seeking to silence young people. The inter-union coalition opposed the route bans and has gone to court to challenge them, leaving that challenge awaiting a decision ahead of the planned October 31 march.
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