Unrest in France: Macron convenes security officials, Lecornu meets with political parties
Crisis meetings are multiplying at the highest level of the state this Thursday, two days ahead of a feared "Act II" of the social mobilisation, after the violence and looting committed on the margins of demonstrations against the high cost of living last weekend in France, Euronews writes.
With several city centres under curfew for the third night in a row and new gatherings already banned today, Emmanuel Macron is this morning chairing a security council bringing together the prime minister, the relevant ministers and "all the intelligence services".
The meeting is intended to take stock of the "intelligence, anticipation and security arrangements" for the coming weeks, but also to review the "failures that led to last weekend's events", according to the Elysée.
The French authorities have acknowledged a failure of the intelligence services, which largely underestimated the scale of the 17 October mobilisation. Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez had expected to see around 200,000 people in the streets, compared with 550,000 to 800,000 participants counted. Nearly 60,000 members of the security forces were deployed across the country on Saturday, without managing to prevent the acts of vandalism committed on the fringes of the marches, images of which travelled around the world.
The security arrangements planned for the new mobilisation on Saturday 24 October will be reinforced by the presence of soldiers from the Sentinelle force and elite units of the police and gendarmerie, such as RAID, GIGN and the BRI.
Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu will receive representatives of the political forces present in parliament, notably to discuss a possible "change" in the doctrine of public-order policing.
Security at presidential campaign rallies is also expected to be on the agenda for this meeting.
In a sign of mistrust towards the executive, several candidates in the 2027 presidential election will give the meeting a miss: Marine Le Pen and Jordan Bardella of the National Rally, as well as former prime minister Édouard Philippe, will be absent.
