10/24/2026
🇫🇷 France is deploying 70,000 police officers and gendarmes nationwide today, while Paris shuts down the Louvre, Musée d’Orsay, Picasso Museum, and Grand Palais amid fears of another wave of violent riots.
The unprecedented security operation follows the October 17 riots, when demonstrators set fires, looted businesses, smashed storefronts, stormed public buildings, and clashed with police in some of France's worst unrest in years.
Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez announced that helicopters, armored vehicles, water cannons, and elite police units would be deployed to protect public buildings and respond rapidly to violence. He warned that radical far-left groups were circulating calls for renewed vandalism and looting.
“We will be absolutely uncompromising,” Nuñez declared, promising immediate arrests and legal consequences for rioters.
The unrest has also forced Art Basel Paris, featuring 211 international galleries, to cancel its entire weekend program at the Grand Palais.
Meanwhile, authorities are preparing for another major confrontation in Orléans, where 20,000–30,000 demonstrators are expected to protest against Marine Le Pen's National Rally party congress. Around 50 left-wing organizations, unions, and anti-racism groups have called for the demonstration.
