The French government said more than 95,000 police and military personnel would be deployed for New Year’s Eve celebrations as a heightened “terrorist threat” required increased security.
Up to one million celebrators are likely to be on the Champs-Elysees in Paris on Sunday night, twice as many as last year. 6,000 security personnel will be deployed to maintain order.
Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin told reporters that Sunday’s deployment was motivated by “a context of a heightened terrorist threat due to the conflict in Israel and Palestine.”
The national force will include 90,000 police or gendarmes, 5,000 members of the anti-terrorist contingent Operation Sentinelle, and mobile units, Darmanin said.
Political demonstrations will be banned, Paris police chief Laurent Nunez added. People will be subjected to body searches before entering the perimeter of the celebrations around the Champs-Elysees and will be banned from carrying “any object that could be used as a weapon,” he said.
The capital’s streets are expected to be more crowded than last year due to additional celebrations for the 2024 Summer Olympics and Paralympics in Paris.
