France's October 24 Protests Passed Quietly at a High Price

France's October 24 protests passed peacefully but at a high cost, with 70,000 police deployed and hundreds of shops closed as a precaution against violence following riots a week earlier. Cities like Paris, Lyon, and Bordeaux saw boarded-up storefronts, closed metro stations and museums, and restricted access. Many businesses lost revenue from closures and spent hundreds of euros on private security, while authorities used extensive preventive measures including facial recognition and vehicle bans. The heavy security response, including armored vehicles and special forces stationed at the Élysée Palace, reflected lingering fears of renewed unrest. The economic impact remains unquantified, but thousands of shops had already been looted in prior riots.