Extra police for New Year's Eve
Officers cancel holiday to patrol streets in bid to stop people torching cars and speed cameras
POLICE officers across France have been asked to postpone their annual leave until the new year to ensure a maximum presence on the streets for New Year's Eve.
Interior minister Manuel Valls has called for reinforcements in most of the major cities, amid concerns that cars and speed cameras could be torched by revellers.
In Paris, an extra 2,000 officers have been drafted in from neighbouring regions to keep an eye on gatherings around the Champs-Elysées and the Eiffel Tower. There will also be police reinforcements in Marseille.
Elsewhere, restrictions on petrol sales are in place in an attempt to stop people setting fire to cars - which has become something of a New Year's Eve tradition in some areas, with Alsace holding the record.
Last year, hundreds of cars were torched although the exact number is disputed because the official count was stopped earlier in the morning than in previous years, meaning a comparison cannot be made.
Police union Unsa-Police said officers had worked hard this year and many were owed substantial amounts of time off, after being required to cancel holidays to patrol the pro- and anti-gay marriage marches earlier this year and protests in Brittany, where truck drivers and farmers rebelled against the eco-tax.
They have been asked to delay any booked annual leave until January.
