70,000 police officers and gendarmes to be deployed

The French interior minister says the government is mobilising 70,000 police officers and gendarmes- military officers who serve in the national police force – to city streets this weekend.

Riot squads and other elite, specialised units will be deployed. Even police trainees are being drafted in as support.

Laurent Nuñez said the government was aiming for an “extremely mobile, agile and effective” force. Some units will be stationed specifically outside government and public buildings as protection.

As I’ve noted earlier, several museums and tourist sites are closing this weekend – including Paris’s major museums the Louvre and Orsay – while shops and businesses are also boarding up.

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