French soldiers to be deployed for next protest

French soldiers will be deployed on Saturday to help guard public buildings, allowing police to focus on dealing with “yellow vest” demonstrators in case of renewed violence in Paris and other cities, the government said on Wednesday.

The troops will be redeployed from the “Sentinelle” anti-terror operation, which patrols streets and protects airports, train stations, places of worship and other sites, government spokesman Benjamin Griveaux told reporters.

This will allow police forces to “concentrate on crowd control, along with maintaining law and order,” he said.

Last Saturday, more than 5,000 police officers failed to stop hundreds of violent protesters from rampaging along the Champs-elysees, burning and looting over 100 businesses in a rampage that lasted more than seven hours.

Ater the rioting, the government sacked Paris police chief Michel Delpuech.

Two other top police officials, including one of Delpuech’s aides, will also be removed from their positions, government sources said.

The deployment of troops is intended to allow riot police to engage more aggressively with the far-let and far-right groups as well as anarchists who have been blamed for much of the violence. But some police unions have warned that maintaining law and order was not the role of a soldier.

“I’m worried about how they’ll respond in case of atack,” said Philippe Capon of the Unsa-police union.

Troops were originally deployed on the streets in January 2015 ater the massacre at the Charlie Hebdo magazine, and their patrols have become a regular sight in Paris and other cities.

The government has also announced plans to outlaw protests along the famed Champselysees and other key areas if hooligans once again infiltrate the “yellow vest” demonstrations, which have taken place every Saturday since mid-november.

Separately, a paedophilia victims’ group is calling for a Vatican cardinal to be stripped of his immunity so he can face prosecution over the cover-up of alleged sex abuse by a French priest, one of the victims said on Wednesday

The announcement comes a day ater Pope Francis rejected the resignation of a French cardinal Philippe Barbarin, who was given a six-month suspended jail sentence for failing to report the allegations against the priest.