Curfew begins in Paris before expected weekend protests

Police were deployed across Paris as the city prepared for expected protests over the weekend.

France will deploy 70,000 police officers nationwide for demonstrations on Saturday (October 24), Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said on Friday, in an effort to prevent a repeat of the violence and looting that shocked the country last weekend.

Elite security units and heavily armed mobile squads will be deployed alongside regular police forces in a show of force aimed at reassuring the public and dispelling fears that the government has lost control of the streets.

Anger over rising living costs and strained public services has drawn students, workers and trade unions to the streets in recent weeks.

(Source: AFP)