France will deploy more than 95,000 police and military personnel for New Year's Eve festivities amid a heightened terrorist threat that authorities say demands tighter controls.
Paris alone will get 6,000 security forces to keep order, with as many as a million revellers expected on the Champs-Elysées on Sunday night.
Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin on Friday told reporters the security deployment was motivated by a heightened terrorist threat resulting from the conflict in Israel and the Palestinian territories.
He said more people were expected on the streets of the capital this year because of additional celebrations to mark 2024 as the year of the Paris Olympics and Paralympics.
Pour la nuit du 31 décembre un dispositif exceptionnel sera mis en place, comprenant 90 000 policiers et gendarmes, 35 000 sapeurs-pompiers et 5 000 militaires de Sentinelle. Merci à eux pour leur mobilisation et pour cette nuit de travail loin de leurs familles. pic.twitter.com/dK9VWl3bcJ
— Gérald DARMANIN (@GDarmanin) December 29, 2023
The nationwide deployment will include 90,000 police and gendarmes, 5,000 members of the anti-terror military contingent Operation Sentinelle, and mobile units, Darmanin said.
There will also be a ban on alcoholic drinks in some areas.
Meanwhile, Paris police chief Laurent Nuñez warned that no political demonstrations will be allowed during the celebrations.
Revellers will be body-searched before getting access to a festivities perimeter around the Champs-Elysées, and will be banned from carrying "any object that could be used as a weapon", Nuñez added.
Drones will be used for surveillance, and France's intelligence services will be put on alert.
