Macron orders 20% more police, authorises only union marches ahead of 24 October protests

President Macron will chair a defence council on 23 October and has ordered a 20 percent increase in police deployment, backed by Sentinelle soldiers, elite police and gendarmerie units, ahead of nationwide demonstrations on 24 October; only union-organised marches will be authorised, with prefects empowered to ban others. The move follows the 17 October protests, when the interior ministry counted 550,000 participants and the CGT union 800,000, against the cost of living, far above the 200,000 authorities had expected, and clashes and looting broke out that Macron called "criminal acts."

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