Faced with the strong mobilization, the police on the bridge. Gérald Darmanin announced on Tuesday that “12,000 police and gendarmes” would be mobilized in France on Thursday, including “5,000 in Paris” for the new day of inter-union action against the disputed pension reform.
Between 600,000 and 800,000 demonstrators, including 40,000 to 70,000 in Paris, are expected in the streets on Thursday according to estimates by the intelligence services, police sources told AFP. 400 to 600 yellow vests and 400 to 600 “radical elements” could also feed the Parisian procession, these sources added.
More than a dozen cities will see “demonstrations of the ultra-left”, according to territorial intelligence, in particular in Rennes where the presence of some 500 members of the protest movement is anticipated, indicated one of the police sources.
“More than 300 police and gendarmes injured” according to the minister
Having come to bring his “support” to the members of the police forces, the Minister of the Interior called on them “not to respond to the provocations of the far left” which, according to him, seeks “to destabilize the State by going after security workers”. “Do not fall for this provocation,” he insisted.
Since the protests chained against the pension reform two months ago, “more than 300 police and gendarmes have been injured,” he said.
He mentioned the case of two seriously injured, one, the same day in Fos-sur-Mer, who had a fractured malleolus and the other, injured in the jaw. He did not give any indication of the place and date concerning this injured person.
Regarding the criticisms against police custody of demonstrators who would be “arbitrary”, according to lawyers, magistrates and politicians, Gérald Darmanin argued that these police custody are always decided “under the authority of the prosecution”. Since Thursday, the date of recourse to 49.3 by the government for the adoption of the pension reform, the minister affirmed that there had been “855 arrests in France, including 729 in Paris for 843 police custody” and “still under the authority of the prosecutor’s office”. “Yes to the freedom to demonstrate, no to disorder, to bordélisation”, warned Gérald Darmanin, denouncing the wild gatherings of the last few days.