France’s top court on Saturday overturned a Paris court’s decision authorising a protest route from Bastille to Place de la Nation in the heart of the French captial, which was proposed by rally organisers. The approved route now runs through the outskirts of Paris. Security has been tightened as authorities warn of rioters using Halloween masks to conceal their identities. Follow our live blog for all the latest updates.
France’s top court bans Halloween protest in the heart of Paris, permits route on outskirts
France’s top court has overturned a Paris court’s decision authorising a protest route from Bastille to Place de la Nation in the heart of the French captial, which was proposed by the organisers of Saturday’s main protest, according to an order reviewed by AFP.
On Friday evening, the Paris court lifted the ban on the Bastille-Nation route, which had been ordered in a police. The Paris police prefecture immediately appealed this decision to the country’s top court, which ruled this morning in its favour.
The approved route is now the one originally proposed by the police, which runs from Porte de Bagnolet to Porte de Charenton on the outskirts of the French capital.
Some shops and businesses board up storefronts
Ahead of today’s protests, some shops and other businesses across France boarded up their storefronts.
Alain Di Crescenzo, president of France’s chamber of commerce, said business owners were worried.
“Shopkeepers can’t wait for Saturday to be over,” Di Crescenzo told broadcaster France Inter.
“The information we have is that Halloween is not helping matters, because we’re going to have people wearing masks.”
Ahead of the protests, some shops and other businesses across France boarded up their storefronts.
“Behind these boards, there is neither power nor an enemy. Just a family and its work,” read a message scrawled in black across the plywood protecting a Paris business.
French interior minister warns of ‘very high risk’ of unrest
France has deployed a 70,000-strong police presence to contain a widely expected bout of fresh unrest today in the latest nationwide protests driven by anger over living costs, public services and President
Emmanuel Macron’s government.
“Everyone is on deck to ensure an extremely firm response to any trouble,” Interior Minister Laurent Nunez told a news conference earlier this week as he set out details of security arrangements for a day he described as carrying “a very high risk” of unrest.
Around 70,000 security personnel will be deployed on Saturday, matching the number mobilised a week ago, as authorities seek to avert a repeat of the October 17 unrest.
Hello and welcome to our live coverage as France braces for another Saturday of protests.
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