By Makini Brice and Crispian Balmer
PARIS, Oct 23 (Reuters) - France will deploy 70,000 police at nationwide protests on Saturday, Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said on Friday, looking to prevent a repeat of the violence and looting that shocked the country last weekend.
Elite security teams and heavily armed mobile squads will be mobilised alongside regular units in a show of force aimed at dispelling fears the government has lost control of the streets.
"We will be uncompromising with rioters, looters
and all those who commit acts of violence," Nunez told reporters, adding that "ultra-left" groups had been urging activists online to target public buildings and unleash more lawlessness.
"We are not talking about a nice, friendly demonstration," Nunez said. "We are ready for tomorrow. We will be extremely vigilant, extremely firm, and we will let absolutely nothing pass."
SHOOTING SPREE NEAR PARIS ADDS TO TENSIONS
Anger over living costs and strained public services has drawn students, workers and unions onto the streets in recent weeks, but authorities say radical militants and bands of young looters have taken advantage of the dispute to sow chaos.
Some far-right politicians have blamed migrants and radical Islam for the turmoil. President Emmanuel Macron has dismissed such accusations.
Ratcheting up the tensions, a man, who officials suspect was motivated by Islamophobic hatred, opened fire from a car west of Paris on Friday, killing one person and wounding four others, including a 12-year-old girl.
"(It was) objectively a racist attack," said local mayor Ali Rabeh, blaming far-right rhetoric for inflaming tensions.
Police have authorised only one union demonstration in Paris on Saturday, rejecting requests for rallies lodged by France's main student union, UNEF, and the Yellow Vest movement, an anti-establishment force that first emerged in 2018.
Many French cities beyond Paris have also banned protests but the second largest city, Marseille, rescinded an earlier restriction order and said it would allow a union demonstration.
UNEF said its rallies, which grew from high school protests last month against teacher shortages and shabby facilities, would go ahead regardless.
Marylise Leon, the general secretary of the CFDT, one of the nation's largest trade unions, criticised Macron for not sanctioning more demonstrations.
"It's counterproductive because there is a lot of anger, a lot of anger and a demand to be considered and to be listened to," she told French broadcaster TF1. "It's not for the president to decide who can legitimately request to protest."
FAR-RIGHT CONGRESS A POSSIBLE FLASHPOINT
Nunez said 10,000 more police would be on the streets than a week ago, while mounted police, helicopters, drones and anti-drone systems would be deployed across the country.
Armoured vehicles and water cannon vehicles would also be available, while curfews imposed in some sensitive areas this past week would remain in force.
Authorities are also concerned that the annual congress of Marine Le Pen's far-right National Rally in Orleans this weekend could become a flashpoint, with left-wing and anti-racist groups announcing counter-demonstrations.
The upsurge of violence has boosted poll ratings for Le Pen, who is the frontrunner for next year's presidential election. She has portrayed the unrest as evidence of a collapse in state authority.
Fears of renewed turmoil prompted several of Paris' best-known cultural institutions, including the Louvre, the Musée d'Orsay and the Opera House, to close all day on Saturday.
Paris St Germain's home Ligue 1 soccer match with Olympique Lyonnais was shifted from Sunday to Monday over security concerns. However, an NFL regular-season game between the Pittsburgh Steelers and New Orleans Saints is still scheduled to be played in Paris on Sunday, although US President Donald Trump suggested it should be cancelled.
Business groups also urged shops to stay shut after some 3,000 stores and businesses were ransacked last weekend.
Alain Di Crescenzo, the president of France's chamber of commerce, said some shopkeepers were arming themselves with baseball bats, crowbars and shotguns to protect their properties. But he urged them not to turn to violence.
"It’s extremely worrying," he told Europe 1 radio. "It's not their job to do that. It would add suffering onto suffering."
The social turbulence has intensified scrutiny of France's economic outlook and ratings agency Moody's is widely expected to cut the French credit rating on Friday, underscoring concern that the government had not reined in public spending.
(Reporting by Makini Brice, Dominique Vidalon, Alessandro Parodi, Elizabeth Howcroft in Paris and Charlotte Van Campenhout in Amsterdam; Writing by Crispian Balmer, Editing by Philippa Fletcher)
