“Act II” of October 24: Paris town hall calls on the population “to be extremely vigilant”

The Paris town hall on Thursday October 22 called on the population “to be extremely vigilant” on Saturday in the face of “the risks of new violence committed by thugs unrelated to the social movement”, after the large-scale damage and looting last weekend. The police headquarters told AFP that it had counted “450 damaged businesses, including 228 looted” in the capital last weekend. “The City is taking several preventive measures in public spaces this Thursday, is strengthening the mobilization of its agents for this weekend and is calling on residents and merchants to take some simple precautions,” writes the town hall in a press release.

“Mediation teams” deployed in the streets

In particular, she recommends bringing in trash cans, bicycles, terraces and outdoor furniture “from Saturday noon”. Ahead of the new events announced, the town hall specifies that it has started to “liberate as much as possible the public space from equipment and materials likely to be used to cause damage, in particular barriers and mobile elements of construction sites”. The street bins are emptied, the glass containers removed, she specifies.

“Within the strict framework of their skills”, the municipal police officers – who are not armed – “will be mobilized in order to strengthen the protection of municipal buildings and equipment”, while “mediation teams” will be deployed in the streets during the day on Saturday. “It is imperative to immediately mobilize the municipal police on the outskirts of hot spots: protection of public places, regulation of flows at the gates of Paris and clearing of blocked roads when security conditions allow,” the leader of the Parisian right-wing opposition, Grégory Canal, told AFP.

A “crisis management” unit from Saturday at 12 p.m.

“If she was armed and better trained, which we have been asking for many years, she would certainly have been useful this weekend in support,” he said. Two municipal agents on patrol were attacked on Sunday evening in their vehicle alongside looting in the 9th arrondissement. Shocked, they took refuge with local residents with Mayor Delphine Bürkli (DVD), who witnessed the scene.