Paris shuts museums and police deploy in big numbers for new protests across France

PARIS (AP) — Major museums in Paris closed and authorities deployed a sizable police force for a round of new protests Saturday across France, hoping to prevent a repeat of last week’s violent unrest that shocked the country.

Scenes of looting, burned-out cars and attacks on public buildings left the impression that the government had lost control, as groups of masked vandals targeted businesses in Paris and other city centers.

Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez said as many as 70,000 officers will be deployed nationwide, along with helicopters, armored vehicles and water cannons.

A massive turnout is expected again after more than half a million took to the streets last week.

Major museums including the Louvre, Orsay Museum, Picasso Museum and Grand Palais — where a major Cézanne exhibit is on display — are closed Saturday. Art Basel, one of the world’s most prestigious contemporary art fairs, opened to the public Friday, but only for the day, with the threat of unrest prompting organizers to cancel the weekend program.

Parisian shopkeepers have been barricading their stores all week. Near Place de la République in Paris, one of last weekend’s hot spots, a bank branch and other businesses were boarded up with wooden panels to deter potential looters.

Following the unrest, Paris police prefect Patrice Faure urged Parisian shopkeepers to hire security guards. He later clarified that protecting business owners and their establishments is the responsibility of the government.

Some 3,000 shops across France were damaged or looted last weekend.

Protest marches are scheduled in Paris and Marseille, but some other rallies, including in Lyon, Nice and Montpellier, have been banned by local authorities. Cities outside Paris were hit hard by the unrest. In Limoges, a suspected arson nearly destroyed the 19th-century city hall.

Trade unions have criticized the bans, calling them violations of freedom of expression, which is protected by the constitution.

President Emmanuel Macron, a centrist, entered the crisis in the final stretches of his term, with his popularity at its lowest since he took office in 2017. He has said that the measures are needed to protect city centers, businesses and public buildings.

Saturday’s demonstration in the city of Orléans, about 110 kilometers (70 miles) south of Paris, will also be closely watched.

About 50 organizations have called for a protest against the far right on the sidelines of the two-day congress of Marine Le Pen’s nationalist, anti-immigration party ahead of next spring’s presidential election. Organizers include labor unions, left-wing parties, student and anti-racism groups.

The demonstrations first erupted last month in a high school southeast of Paris over a lack of staff.

From there, class boycotts and demonstrations spread to other Paris suburbs and nationwide, including smaller towns. High school students have raised concerns about underfunded schools and staff shortages, particularly in lower-income neighborhoods. Some also called for a reform of the university admissions system, seen by many as unfair.

With the government seemingly unable to respond to students’ demands, the movement has morphed into larger protests over soaring living costs, just months before the vote to choose Macron’s successor.

“The money is now concentrated in the hands of very few people," said Victoria Ambrosini, an art critic and art teacher at Saint-Denis University. “And it’s not possible anymore.”

Students chant slogans during a demonstration against rising living costs in Paris, Saturday, Oct. 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)

People sitting in a pub watch demonstrators during a protest on the sidelines of the far-right Rassemblement National (RN) congress in Orleans, France, Saturday, Oct. 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Teresa Suarez)

Protesters hold signs reading “Fashion but not fascist” and “Time for revolution” during a protest on the sidelines of the far-right Rassemblement National (RN) Congress in Orléans, France, Saturday, Oct. 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Teresa Suarez)

Leftists unions and political parties members hold a banner reading "all united against fascism. For the popular rally and social progress" during a protest on the sidelines of the far-right party Rassemblement National (RN) congress, in Orleans, France, Saturday, Oct. 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Teresa Suarez)

People walk past the Paris' Grand Palais hosting Art Basel art fair, Friday, Oct. 23, 2026 after planned anti-government protests prompted organizers to cancel their weekend program. (AP Photo/Teresa Suarez)

People enter the Paris' Grand Palais hosting Art Basel art fair Friday, Oct. 23, 2026 after planned anti-government protests prompted organizers to cancel their weekend program. (AP Photo/Teresa Suarez)

Paris' Grand Palais hosting Art Basel art fair is pictured Friday, Oct. 23, 2026 after planned anti-government protests prompted organizers to cancel their weekend program. (AP Photo/Teresa Suarez)

PARIS (AP) — The NFL closed its “NFL House” in Paris on Saturday as the city braced for street protests with a heavy police presence and storefronts boarded up.

The league announced the closure to fans on Saturday morning through its “OnePass” app and it came a day after it said its pop-up NFL shop would also be shut Saturday — in both cases citing “potential accessibility issues.”

Security concerns have overshadowed the NFL's debut in Paris. The New Orleans Saints will play the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday at Stade de France in the league's first-ever regular-season game in France.

Also Saturday, the Saints announced that “ Saints House has been postponed until Sunday.”

Events planned Saturday at NFL House included “French Athletes in Football” and “From the Field to the Community.”

“I was looking forward to just checking out some of the installations they had — they were going to have the Lombardi Trophy,” fan Nick Paiva said.

Major museums including the Louvre and Orsay Museum are closed Saturday, though tourists were lined up to enter Notre Dame Cathedral. French authorities are intent on preventing a repeat of recent violent unrest.

The U.S. State Department this week issued a security alert that cautioned “Americans in Paris for the NFL game” to “exercise caution and be aware of their surroundings” because of protests.

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said this week that preparations were made in consultation with U.S. and French authorities. Street protests, he said, “are not unusual in France.”

On Friday, French President Emmanuel Macron met with Goodell along with Saints owner Gayle Benson and Steelers owners Art Rooney II at the Élysée Palace to “discuss Sunday’s game and the long-term future of the NFL in Paris.”

The NFL said Friday that its pop-up shop in the city center would be closed Saturday but that fans could use an alternative shop set up at Stade de France, located north of the city in Saint-Denis.

A weekend event for Steelers fans was canceled Thursday because of security concerns.

Paiva, an American who lives in France, wanted to visit NFL House, where his partner, who is French, could learn more about the sport.

He had also expected to participate in the league’s activation called “Hail Mary over the Seine” in which you try to throw a football across the famed waterway, at a location near Notre Dame. Despite having registered, Paiva was told at the site that he needed to also have made a time-slot reservation.

“That was not communicated very well,” he said after being turned away. “C’est comme ca — it’s the way it is.”

French teenager Oskar Le Gall, wearing a Bryce Young jersey, was able to give it a shot. His throw came up a bit short. A worker on the other side stayed busy scooping balls out of the river using a long pole with a net attached.

Le Gall, who is from the Brittany region, said “the atmosphere of the NFL in Paris is amazing,” noting that French sports leagues and teams typically don't promote themselves that much.

Le Gall and his brother were keeping an eye on the planned path of the protests Saturday.

“It doesn't feel calm and good to be a tourist in Paris,” he said. “It's not good for the NFL.”

At one point during the Hail Mary event, 11 national police vans with their emergency lights flashing drove past on the street above as a fan got ready to throw a ball.

Steelers fan Monika Allen was able to avoid any protests thanks to advice posted on fan-led Facebook groups.

“The fans are doing a good job keeping each other informed of where to be and where not to be,” Allen said by the ‘Hail Mary’ event.

Her cousin, Viktor Toth, was wearing her Terry Bradshaw black-colored Steelers jersey.

“We're not worried,” she said. "My cousin is Hungarian, so he knows that the protests happen regularly in Paris."

See AP’s full NFL coverage here

Police officers patrol the empty Place de la Bastille ahead of a demonstration against rising living costs in Paris, Saturday, Oct. 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Emma Da Silva)

Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Aaron Rodgers leaves a press conference in Paris, Friday, Oct. 23, 2026. (AP Photo/Aurelien Morissard)

A fan participates in the Hail Mary event on the banks of the Seine river in Paris, Friday, Oct. 23, 2026 in the build up to the Saints against Steelers NFL game. (AP Photo/Dave Shopland)

A man walks past stores boarded up with wooden planks in the Les Halles shopping district, which is under a nighttime curfew following weekend protests over the cost of living that turned into rioting and looting across France, in Paris, Wednesday, Oct. 21, 2026. (AP Photo/Teresa Suarez)

An exterior view of the Stade de France with NFL branding on Thursday, Oct. 22, 2026, in Saint-Denis, north of Paris, ahead of Sunday's game between the Pittsburgh Steelers and the New Orleans Saints. (AP Photo/Greg Payan)