French security forces are braced for potential violence during scaled-down Bastille Day celebrations on Friday as the country struggles to recover from its worst riots in nearly two decades, reports The Times.
A massive police deployment will be maintained until Sunday morning, with about 45,000 officers patrolling the streets every night, including 10,000 in Paris. Similar numbers were mobilised at the height of the mayhem that erupted after a police officer shot dead a French-Algerian teenager in June.
Frédéric Veaux, the national police chief, said officers could use rubber bullets and tear gas. “We’re preparing for anything and we’re ready for a difficult weekend,” he said. “It’s not just a question of maintaining public order, we’re facing urban violence.”
Buses and trams will stop running at 10pm and 40,000 firefighters will be deployed every night. During the riots, youths used fireworks to torch cars and set fire to public buildings.
Police raided shops that defied a temporary ban on the sale of fireworks this week and seized more than 150,000. A police source said: “We know the thugs ran out of fireworks during the riots and they’re trying to get more.”
Paris is maintaining its traditional fireworks display but a number of local authorities have cancelled theirs, ignoring an appeal by the government to proceed as normal.