45,000 police officers and gendarmes and 10,000 soldiers from Operation Sentinel are preparing in the event of excesses.
The police are preparing to manage possible disturbances to public order following the first and second rounds of the early legislative elections, assured the Paris police prefect, Laurent Nunez, on Wednesday.
Guest of France Inter, Mr. Nunez specified that the Minister of the Interior Gérald Darmanin brought together in the morning the heads of the police and the gendarmerie in particular to discuss this question. “We are preparing to manage all configurations. We may have public demonstrations which can degenerate. We are preparing for them”he explained.
The Paris police chief is counting on a substantial system
The police chief recalled that on the evening of the European elections, in Paris there had been “demonstrations” followed by “wild wanderings where force had to be used to avoid damage”. “The demonstrations themselves did not result in any disturbances to public order”insisted Laurent Nunez.
As for the hypothesis of continued political unrest during the Olympic Games, and in particular during the opening ceremony on July 26, the police chief recalled that“a substantial number of law enforcement personnel” would be deployed in Ile-de-France: “45,000 police officers and gendarmes, not counting the 10,000 soldiers from Operation Sentinel”.
