Paris Museums Close Amid Escalating Unrest
Cultural institutions shuttered and events cancelled as authorities deploy 70,000 officers across France.
Sarah Connor
Major museums in Paris, including the Louvre, closed their doors on Saturday.
France's culture ministry ordered widespread closures, urging institutions to secure visitor safety, protect staff, and preserve artworks. The Paris Opera shuttered both the Palais Garnier and the Opéra Bastille.
Art Basel, a major contemporary art fair, cancelled its weekend program due to the escalating unrest. The Grand Palais, which hosts Art Basel Paris and features 211 international galleries, closed its doors.
Parisian shopkeepers boarded up their stores; luxury shops across France secured windows on Saturday. Last weekend, 3,000 shops nationwide suffered damage or looting, leading to hundreds of arrests for vandalism, arson, and looting.
President Emmanuel Macron met with high-school student representatives on Friday. Macron decreed that only demonstrations organized by recognized trade unions would be permitted on Saturday.
The demonstrations began over school conditions, with high school students raising concerns about underfunded schools and staff shortages. These protests have since expanded into broader movements addressing rising living costs and public service strains.
We shed tears for shops, not for the people who are being impoverished all year round.
Clara Lebbadi, a demonstrator, stated, "We shed tears for shops, not for the people who are being impoverished all year round." Lebbadi added, "My friend and I almost didn't come because we were scared, but we came precisely because it's important not to let repression win."
Protesters associated with the revived gilet jaunes movement were expected to participate; Saturday's protest was anticipated to be much larger than Thursday's. Demonstrations occurred in Paris, Marseille, Lyon, Bordeaux, Grenoble, Clermont-Ferrand, Lille, Rennes, Nantes, and Toulouse, with police using tear gas against demonstrators in Lyon and Nantes.
A shooting west of Paris on Friday targeted non-white people, resulting in one death and five injuries. Separately, a 17-year-old girl lost an eye in Mulhouse, and a 17-year-old boy lost a hand in Saint-Etienne during protests.
The Interior Ministry reported 997 officers and gendarmes injured on Saturday, seven seriously. French authorities blame far-Left radicals for much of the recent violence; Darmanin ordered prosecutors to seek punitive measures against those convicted of looting or attacking police officers.
My friend and I almost didn't come because we were scared, but we came precisely because it's important not to let repression win.
Over 100 people were arrested nationwide. Curfews have been imposed in parts of the capital and other cities, and 24 metro stations in Paris have been shut.
Marine Le Pen's National Rally party holds its national conference in Orléans, where an authorized march passed off peacefully. A football match for PSG has been moved to Monday.