Some 250 actions are planned in France, which should bring together 400,000 to 600,000 people, including 40,000 to 70,000 in the capital, according to the authorities. 11,000 police and gendarmes will be deployed, including 4,000 in Paris, where a thousand radicals, including some from abroad, are expected, according to police sources.
"There is the freedom to protest (...) it is complicated to prevent them from coming to demonstrate, "said on BFMTV the prefect of police, ensuring to be "very determined" and "serene".
"The thugs and the black blocs come to sow chaos, disorder (...) They come to disrupt the demonstration," continued Laurent Nuñez, calling "for the responsibility of each other" not to mix with these radicals, hooded and dressed in black, during the demonstration.
He also mentioned the presence of "individuals who watch and encourage" the black blocs to intervene.
According to a police source, ultra-left figures Antonin Bernanos and his brother, Angel, have been seen in several demonstrations against the pension reform. The same was true last autumn of far-left activist Julien Coupat.
For the prefect, "there is something political among the black blocs" and their tactic is "to try to intervene the forces of order and then take them to task".
© 2023 AFP