2023-12-29 14:23:29
More than 90,000 police officers and gendarmes, as well as 5,000 soldiers from Operation “Sentinelle”, will be mobilized on Sunday December 31 to secure the transition to the new year, including 6,000 law enforcement officers in Paris, announced Friday , the minister of the Interior.
Gérald Darmanin clarified, “in a context of very high terrorist threat”what “seventy-three units of mobile forces including four units of the new CRS8” were part of the device, as well as helicopters.
In Paris, where larger festivities than last year are planned to launch the Olympic and Paralympic Games, the sale and consumption of alcohol will be prohibited in certain areas. Drones will also be deployed.
The festivities in the capital will begin at 6 p.m. and end around 12:30 a.m., said police chief Laurent Nuñez. “Protest demonstrations will be prohibited”, he continued. To access the perimeter of the festivities, spectators will be searched, he said, adding that “within this perimeter, sales of objects that can be used as weapons by destination (knives, for example) will be prohibited”.
Seizures of fireworks mortars on the rise
The authorities expect 700,000 to 1 million people to come to the Champs-Elysées, and more than 1.5 million spectators in total in the capital. Giant screens will be installed from Place de la Concorde to the top of the Champs-Elysées.
Read also: New Year 2023: around the world, festivities almost free from Covid-19
The prefect of police stressed that the police would be required, depending on the circumstances, to deploy throughout the Paris metropolitan area (Paris and the inner suburbs).
The minister noted with satisfaction that seizures of fireworks mortars had increased by « 45 % » compared to the same period last year.
Gérald Darmanin also insisted on the mobilization of law enforcement agencies overseas, particularly in Guyana and Mayotte, as well as in two mainland cities, Charleville-Mézières and Romans-sur-Isère. In a context of significant terrorist risk, he also recalled that the intelligence services were fully mobilized.
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