Organisers said more than 60,000 people took part in marches across France, while the interior ministry said the number did not exceed 26,417
A new day of protests against the government’s “Global Security” and “Ensuring Respect for the Principles of the Republic” bills was held on Saturday in the French capital and several regions. Despite additional security measures, the organizers of the marches were again unable to avoid the infiltration of anarchists from the Black Bloc organization into their ranks.
Official figures from the authorities and those of the organisers themselves on the number of participants in the marches differ. According to the organisers, more than 60,000 people took part in marches across France this time, while according to the Ministry of the Interior their number did not exceed 26,417. Last Saturday, according to official statistics, 57,350 people took part in French marches.
Mobilising the forces of law and order
In Paris, the third protest march drew about 10,000 participants, according to its initiators. TASS reports from the scene that to avoid a repeat of the incidents that accompanied the two previous marches in the capital, authorities decided to mobilise additional police and gendarme units to protect the order.
Protesters were on their way from Place du Châtelet to Place de la République and police detained 142 of them for various offences. “The rioters tried to inflict violence, but the strategy chosen by the law enforcement officers prevented this,” French Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin commented on these detentions on his Twitter page, adding that “Force remained on the side of the law”.
A total of 164 demonstrators were detained in the country for disturbing public order on Saturday, according to the authorities. The interior minister backed the “resolute and brave actions” of his subordinates.