Some 90,000 police and gendarmes will be mobilized in France, including 5,400 in Paris, for New Year’s Eve, after two years of restrictions due to Covid-19, said
this Friday, December 30, the Minister of the Interior Gérald Darmanin and the Paris police headquarters.
What good is the Republic if it’s to eat pasta all alone on New Year’s Eve?
the “high and persistent level of terrorist threat” and the “recent events in Paris against the Kurdish community” have to “lead to the greatest vigilance”writes Minister Darmanin in a note addressed to the prefects.
He asks them to plan a “deterrent device, visible and on foot”bringing together law enforcement and military personnel from Operation Sentinel.
“Systematic arrest of troublemakers”
Public transport will be particularly monitored, adds the minister, and filtering points to access places of gatherings with searches and pat-downs may be set up.
On the urban violence component, usually more frequent on the night of December 31, Gérald Darmanin asks “the systematic arrest of troublemakers”. It also calls for operations to be carried out against driving under the influence of alcohol or narcotics, starting on the night of December 30.
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In Paris, where the traditional fireworks at midnight is back on the Champs-Elysées, 5,400 police and gendarmes will be mobilized, for its part indicated the police headquarters. The device will be particularly reinforced on the famous avenue, where the town hall of Paris expects 500,000 people.
The take-out sale of alcohol and its consumption on the public highway are prohibited from this Friday evening to Monday morning in an area around the Champs-Elysées. Traffic restrictions and public screening points with searches are also planned.
In 2021, 95,000 police and gendarmes, including 9,000 in Paris, were mobilized for New Year’s Eve, in particular to enforce the ban on spontaneous gatherings in the context of an outbreak of Covid-19 cases.
