70,000 French Police Officers to Secure World Cup Semi-Final

Paris (AFP) – “70,000 police and gendarmes” will be deployed in France on Tuesday to secure the national holiday of July 14 and the 2026 FIFA World Cup semi-final match between France and Spain in North America.

French Interior Minister Laurent Nunez told BFMTV that these security personnel “will be deployed in the morning and in the evening.”

When asked about the size of the security apparatus in Paris, Nunez confirmed that 5,000 police and gendarmes would be working from 10 a.m. to secure the military parade for the July 14 celebrations on the Champs-Élysées, which marks the final such event during President Emmanuel Macron’s second term.

Nunez affirmed that the evening of the World Cup quarter-final match between France and Morocco (2-0) last Thursday “generally passed in a very positive atmosphere.”

However, the minister added, “We recorded some incidents that led to the arrest of 89 people, and we also witnessed the death of a 17-year-old girl in a horrific accident.”

Nunez stressed “zero tolerance for any kind of lawlessness on Tuesday.”