The French government said on Friday, December 29, it will deploy more than 95,000 police and military personnel for New Year Eve's celebrations, adding that a heightened "terrorist threat" required tight security. Paris alone, where up to 1 million revelers are expected on the Champs-Elysées Sunday night – twice as many as last year – will get 6,000 security forces to keep order.
Interior Minister Gérald 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 deployment would include 90,000 police or gendarmes, 5,000 members of the anti-terror military contingent Operation Sentinelle as well as mobile units, Darmanin said.
More people were expected in the streets of the capital than last year because of additional celebrations to mark 2024 as the year of the Paris Summer Olympics and Paralympics, Darmanin said.
There will be a ban on alcoholic drinks in some areas of Paris, Darmanin said. No political demonstrations will be allowed, added Paris police chief Laurent Nuñez.
People will be body-searched before getting access to a festivities' perimeter around the Champs-Elysées, and be banned from carrying "any object that could be used as a weapon," he said. Drones will be used for surveillance, and France's intelligence services will be put on alert, Darmanin said.