Politics 30,000 officers to prevent riots during election in France

France is mobilizing 30,000 police officers on Sunday to prevent riots after the decisive round of the parliamentary elections. 5,000 officers are to be deployed in Paris and its suburbs alone, Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin told France 2. "This is a very large police force to ensure that the ultra-left or the ultra-right do not benefit from the result in order to incite chaos, which could then cause further unrest," the minister said.

Darmanin had already warned of unrest before the first round of voting last weekend. Thousands of people demonstrated against the extreme right in Paris and other major cities on election night. There were also clashes between demonstrators and police in Lyon, France's third-largest city.

This Sunday evening, an anti-fascist group called for a protest in front of the parliament in Paris. "Regardless of the outcome, we must more than ever form a front against the extreme right and its allies by all means", said the call from Action Antifasciste Paris-Banlieue. Without mobilization on the streets, the new left-wing alliance formed for the election would not make any progress.