William Molinié, with AFP
modified to
8:52 a.m., March 28, 2023
Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin announced Monday that an “unprecedented security device” would be deployed on Tuesday for the tenth day of mobilization against the pension reform with “13,000 police and gendarmes, including 5,500 in Paris”. During a press conference, the Minister of the Interior called “in this period of violence (…) solemnly everyone to calm” and mentioned the possible arrival in Paris on Tuesday of “more than 1,000 radical elements, some of whom came from abroad and others were present in Sainte-Soline this weekend”.
Violent actions possible in several cities
Gérald Darmanin added that these people “from the ultra-left and the far left” could also “carry out actions in Lyon, Rennes, Nantes, Dijon and Bordeaux”, cities where the demonstrations were enamelled last Thursday lots of violence. These people “are trying to take the union processions hostage”, he lamented. “They come to break, to kill police and gendarmes (…) to destabilize the institutions and put France on fire and blood”.
Intelligence anticipates violent action on Tuesday
The ninth day of mobilization – the first post-49.3 – was marked by violence on the sidelines of the processions. This Tuesday, in an intelligence note that Europe 1 obtained, the Ministry of the Interior is worried about the rise of youth, young people who have entered the movement. Last Thursday, they were 30,000 everywhere in France, and this Tuesday, their participation could double, even triple, alerts intelligence in a document on the violent elements expected in the demonstrations.
The police also fear the radicalization of certain members of trade union organizations tempted to join citizen movements or violent small groups. Their stated objective is to exhaust the forces of order. Casseurs, ultra-left, violent anti-all… Serious incidents are anticipated in around fifty cities. Blockades and punch actions could be organized in front of schools or on major roads, and they should start very early, from 5 a.m.
The minister affirmed that his services anticipated for Tuesday “very significant risks to public order” and mentioned a “context of ultraviolence” to justify the deployment of an “unprecedented” law enforcement device. . During the previous day of inter-union mobilization last Thursday, 12,000 police and gendarmes had been mobilized, including 5,000 in Paris.
47 gendarmes injured in clashes in Sainte-Soline
Gérald Darmanin took stock of the demonstrations against the pension reform since March 16: “114 acts of vandalism against offices, 128 against public buildings, 2,179 arson attacks, 891 police officers and gendarmes injured”.
In Saintes-Soline in the Deux-Sèvres where the unauthorized demonstration against water reservoirs gave rise to violent clashes with the gendarmes on Saturday, the minister affirmed that there had been counted “200 people known to the services, including many S files among the thousand radicals” present. He said he had “a thought for the two men (protesters) who have their vital prognosis engaged” seriously injured. He recalled that 47 gendarmes were also injured on Saturday in Deux-Sèvres.