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After the French protests turned into riots last weekend, the curfews, and then the alleged racist mass shooting yesterday on the outskirts of Paris, there has been much anxiety, planning and preparation ahead of today's protests.
Intelligence reports had predicted up to 500,000 people taking to the streets nationwide, and suggested there were elements of ultra-left agitators plotting online for a repeat of the riots.
What's passed off so far is a picture of genuine grievances being aired, the spotlight back on the demonstrators for now, and not on the looting and violence that hijacked the last event. The story of the day appears to be confusion in some cities over last-minute changes to the permitted protests, with tear gas fired in several cities.
“It's all calm so far,” was the police update from Paris in the past hour. A Paris with museums closed, many businesses shuttered for the day in anticipation, and officers saying they had seized weapons and gas masks in a crackdown this morning.
110,000 people have turned out, according to the latest police figures, the same as last week. Only the route had been changed, and changed again, ensuring it was far enough away from the city centre.
Fatima Khallouk, French disability rights activist, who writes for Yanous, the French disability magazine, and is an activist with the French Communist Party.
