Macron protest: France deploys military for yellow vest protests

Protesters were barred from congregating on the Champs Elysees after shops and businesses were looted and destroyed last weekend. Protests were also banned in areas of other cities like Bordeaux, Toulouse and Nice, where President Xi Jinping of China, who is on a tour of Europe, is expected to stay on Sunday. French President Emmanuel Macron has been forced to call in “Operation Sentinelle” military units to prevent a repeat of last week. Around 7,000 soldiers, most armed with automatic weapons, are deployed across France.

Didier Lallement, the new chief of the Paris police said officers would be more “proactive” in order to “immediately put a stop to violence or destruction”.

General Bruno Le Ray said: “If their life or that of the people they defend is threatened, they can go up to opening fire.”

He said: “The soldiers have different courses of action to tackle a range of threats, which include opening fire.

“But they are perfectly capable of appreciating the nature of the threat and of responding in a proportionate manner.”

This drew fierce criticism from opposition parties, and Mr Macron later insisted soldiers would not be forced to turn their guns on protesters.

He said: “The soldiers are perfectly capable of appraising the nature of the threat and responding in a proportionate manner.”

Dozens of police vehicles, including armoured trucks and water cannons, surrounded the Arc de Triomphe.

Officers searched people’s bags and patrolled in front of boarded up shops.

Officers have banned demonstrators in a large amount of the west of Paris.

Access to the Place de la Concorde, near the presidential palace and the National Assembly was completely blocked.

Two drones were flying over the capital to help officers track the movements of any protesters’.

Paris police detained 51 people, handed out 29 fines and conducted 4,688 ‘preventive checks’ on protesters by early afternoon.

Interior Minister Christophe Castaner has promised a zero tolerance policy towards protest violence.

“Last Saturday, on the Champs-Elysées, there were no protesters. There were haters, ultras, rioters, people who had come to break, destroy, assault,” he said on Thursday, as he called on riot police to “show zero impunity”.

“Black blocs should be in prison, not on the Champs-Elysées,” he warned, referring to the hard-left militants who sparked chaos on the streets of Paris last Saturday.

source: express.co.uk