Ironically enough for a national holiday celebrating a rebellion against entrenched authority, France is marking Bastille Day today with an enormous police deployment and bans on fireworks in response to enormous rioting that rocked the country just weeks ago.
France will deploy 130,000 police officers and 40,000 firemen will be deployed across France over the course of the Bastille weekend, the Minister of the Interior Gérald Darmanin revealed. Underlining the extent of the exceptional deployment to keep the peace on what would otherwise be a day of celebration, Darmanin said “specially equipped and organised” law enforcement would be on the streets.
Beyond regular police, officers from the RAID elite tactical unit, GIGN counter-terror police, BRI tactical unit, police helicopters, drones, armoured vehicles, and water cannon trucks are deployed today and over the weekend. In all there will be 45,000 police a night on the streets, Le Figaro reports.
In a further effort to head off violence, there are widespread restrictions against fireworks, a traditional part of Bastille day celebrations. While some regions and cities have outright banned fireworks after hundreds of officers were injured last month in the riots which saw huge amounts of professional-grade fireworks used as improvised firearms against police, there are also national efforts to limit supply.
Tens of thousands of heavy-duty fireworks, known colloquially in France as ‘mortars’, have been confiscated in recent weeks and border police and customs are looking especially for attempts to import new stocks illegally from abroad, a considerable job given the EU’s open borders. One police officer cited notes these efforts may be effective as “the criminals” had already depleted their huge stocks of fireworks during the riots” and limiting new supply now could have an impact.
Presently, buying such fireworks is illegal by executive decree. In some areas, public fireworks displays will be replaced with drone light shows. Presumably looking past the impact of lithium batteries, one report notes approvingly these are more “environmentally friendly”.
These moves follow the week of rioting that rocked France following the killing of an underage driver stopped by police as he tried to escape the traffic stop. France experienced the worst riots in nearly 20 years leading to considerable property damage if not, fortunately, major additional loss of life.
As reported, nearly 6,000 vehicles were burnt out and over 1,200 buildings were damaged or destroyed. One estimate puts the cost of rebuilding at over one billion dollars.