Heavily armed police in Le Marais?
 

My husband and I are staying in Le Marais for the next 2.5 months and have noticed that there are always police with enormous (automatic) guns. Anyone know why? We're not used to seeing big guns in public, especially on the street we live! A few buildings down, there's always an armed guard standing in front of a Kosher pizza place. I'm assuming it's just high security due to immigration and the alert since Charlie Hebdo, but just wondering if anyone else knows what's up. Just curious.

Thanks!

I have seen this in every major European city I visited even back in the 1990's. It's not an uncommon site and is standard anti-terrorist procedure.

Get used to it! They are there to protect you.

Thanks, FrenchMystique. I've never noticed this on any trips in the past, but probably just because the trips were short and I wasn't noticing everything around, plus the crowds. It's quite interesting walking out of our building and seeing that sight right there in front of our eyes!

Robert2533, yes... I intend to. Just curious as it's not a usual sight for me.

The Marais is a large Jewish quarter and thus probcably the enhanced security after recent anti-Semitic attacks in Paris - a bit unnerving but has been routine in Paris train stations for eons.

If you're from the U.S. then indeed this is an eye opener but you come to understand it's part of normal day to day life here and has been for a long time.

Called 'vigipirate' plan.

https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plan_Vigipirate

Came with a lot of other measures, like changing the wastebins with clearplastic bags in public places like trainstations in order to spot anything strange inside it.

The soldiers are usually quite nice and polite.

Yes, I noticed no one else seemed phased haha. Thanks!

Sorry - not an eye opener for the US. At least in this area all of the major transit centers (airports, train and bus stations) have obviously armed soldiers as well as plain clothes anti-terrorist police - as do any places with large crowds - baseball stadiums, etc. We also have severla blocks that have permanent police presence - those with consulates of UN embassies from specific countries - at lest 4 cops at all times.

Jus part of living in this era. (I do understand you won;t see that in suburbs or small towns - but the OP is now in the center of Paris.)

Thanks, pariswat! Super interesting!

nytraveler, never seen anything like this in the US... lots of police with handguns, yes, but not like this just hanging out in front of pizzerias, unless something has happened. Like I said, I'm not worried! It's just interesting.

This became routine in the Marais when Jo Goldenberg's store was bombed back in 1982. Due to the city's budget the soldiers come and go. They are all over town, not just the Marais. They protect VIPs of all nationalities, Muslim and Jewish schools and places of worship as well as patrolling the trainstations and now the big department stores due to the huge number of wealthy tourists carrying cash.
Some residents think this has been blown out of proportion and President Hollande is just trying to present a tough guy front. Many Parisian taxpayers do not agree that they should pay for this service without good reason.

I remember when our British friends would chide us about armed police in the US, considering a Smith and Wesson revolver and a Winchester 12 gauge pump to be heavy artillery.

Now police everywhere have H&K machine pistols, the police inside St Marco in Venice are armed with machine pistols, and soldiers in camo patrol Paris railway and some Metro stations as they have been since at least the mid-1990's.

I would expect security to be especially high in the Marais. After a long time, The French have recently arrested one of the people responsible for the murders in Finkelstayn's restaurant in the Rue des Rosiers, and expecting retribution and preparing for it is only prudent.

I've seen that in a lot in various places in Paris for many years, not just the Marais. Train stations etc, also.

The terrorist alert level has been very high for years in Paris (and went up a notch in January), and that entails military patrols of three soldiers everywhere in the city and special protection of any "sensitive" address. In the Marais (but also places with even higher concentrations of such places, such as the 19th arrondissement), it means that there will also be police protection in front of every synagogue or Jewish school or any other Jewish institution in the city. You will see this in all of the major cities of France, but very rarely in less urban areas.

The weapons carried by the soldiers are often referred to as "machine guns" by tourists, but they are actually just automatic rifles. Machine guns are something that you put on a tripod and which have big belts of shells.

Sorry. It was of course Jo Goldenberg's. Got my delicious eateries confused, also the arrest situation.

After many years, one of the three killers was arrested in Jordan and is out on bail.

Another lives in Ramallah, the third in Norway.

I suppose they do not sleep well. Shin Bet has a long reach.

I saw this in the early 60s in Paris. Like you, I was sort of shocked, but it's nothing to be concerned about.

<<Sorry - not an eye opener for the US.>>

It is quite an eye opener for the majority of Americans who do not live in or visit NYC or travel abroad.

In the USA in 2014, there were 543 shootings by police while in the UK there were none. Also in the USA, there were approximately 30000 murders. One wonders why a US citizen is worried when in Europe!

Oh I didn't get the impression th

Darn. Got cut off. I was saying that I didn't get the impression that the OP was worried. Just curious.

We're in Paris now and last Monday were riding a 52 bus eastbound on rue du Faubourg St. Honore. The traffic stopped for some minutes then gradually crept forward. We started hearing sirens then seeing many police motorcycles, cars and other vehicles including a van with a satellite dish in which sat a man watching several monitors. When we reached the corner of Av. du Marigny near the Elysee Palace, all traffic was diverted down to the Champs Elysees. There were two busloads of Republican Guards also. When we got home, I watched local news hoping to see what had happened. There was nothing. I thought there must have been some kind of incident or something, but never heard anything reported. Much ado about nothing? Some kind of drill? It looked like a scene from a movie. Did any of you locals hear anything? Inquiring minds want to know.

By the way, we're having a wonderful time.

<i>We started hearing sirens then seeing many police motorcycles, cars and other vehicles including a van with a satellite dish in which sat a man watching several monitors. When we reached the corner of Av. du Marigny near the Elysee Palace, all traffic was diverted down to the Champs Elysees. </i>

Just the President on a routine visit.

Nothing to do with security. Just boosting his fragile ego and making work for underemployed military.

Isn't that what always happens with Presidents? At least he hasn't got two personalised 747s with a few matching billion dollar helicopters.

MaineGG, the president of Nigeria was making an official visit. There are many official state visits that are not considered to be "newsworthy."

I'm not sure what issues flanneruk has about this, unless he believes that foreign dignitaries are unworthy of making state visits to various countries.

I remember seeing carabinieri armed with submachine guns outside hotels in Rome back in the Eighties. My wife and I used to joke about rating hotels as two, three or four carabinieri. I remember thinking that Americans would never stand for having such heavily armed law enforcement on the streets. Not for the last time, I was wrong.

In many areas of the U.S., nowadays anyway, you have heavily armed citizens on the streets. The open carry movement has gotten pretty much in-your-face and offensive. It'll come back down to reality when Obama is out of office, or when the OK Corral is revisited.

almcd, like I said, not worried, just curious. We all know the US is gun crazy... this is a bit different. Thanks!

almcd, like I said, not worried, just curious. We all know the US is gun crazy... this is a bit different. Thanks!>

Yes In Paris only the cops carry guns and you see them - here in America you never know who is armed and dangerous - sometimes the cops as we have seen but much more likely some nut case who could easily buy a gun.

I feel especially safe in areas with a huge police presence anyway! and as others have said this has been a Paris tradition for a long time - the Gare du Nord especially has had a large contigent of armed police for years - go there later in the night and you may see more cops than other folk.

If you're talking about the machine gun toting cops on Rue Beranger, just off Place de la Republique, (to the west) that's the offices of the newspaper La Liberte, which hired the surviving Charlie Hebdo employees - and of course they don't want a repeat, hence all the guns.

The presence of heavily armed troopers does not bother me in France or other European countries, Hellomoe. I assume those folks are well trained, level headed, and intelligent authority figures who are not likely to let off a burst of fire just for the fun of it.

When you broaden your travel to include less advanced countries you will begin to see the people with automatic weapons patrolling the street look like, and probably are, mere children. Kids who are obviously untrained, carrying machine pistols, really are frightening.

The guys in the Marais are on our side, at least!

Jews have been migrating from France at the highest levels since WWII. And more are planning on leaving but since they have established businesses, careers, and families, it is not easy financial and emotional chore. For years French Jews have been complaining that the government has not done enough to protect them. This must be answer to that problem.

Yesterday afternoon the whole area around Hotel de Ville was cordoned off to traffic, sirens and police vehicles trying to get through traffice all the way from Bastille to Hotel de Ville. I found out it was because of a protest march and notheing to get excited about. Nothing ever happens during these marches but tourists are always worried that something awful will go down. The only bad thing is that the bus gets held up in traffic so it's usually better to just walk.

Hello Nuke
'I assume those folks are well trained, level headed, and intelligent authority figures who are not likely to let off a burst of fire just for the fun of it. '

It is a lot of asumptions... but yes troops are now professional.
I used to be in the army myself (NCO) and I can't say that I was well trained, level headed and I definitely already had this authority problem that I will keep forever...

I remember being on the verge of shooting my leutenant during an alert in german woods...
His mistake would have been to come too close to me after rabbits had terorized me. (rabbits make a lot of noise in the night that a urban fighter like me did interpret as terrorists - thousands of them - coming to cut my throat).

Fortunately for everybody I'm no longer in the army. Was discharged with a mention that I had to spend 3 days of light arrest should I be recalled.

<<Nothing ever happens during these marches but tourists are always worried that something awful will go down.>>

How do you know what all tourists are thinking? Have you taken a survey? There are various protests periodically in the US, also, you know. Many where I live as it's a major city, so many people are used to seeing or hearing of such things.

Nothing ever happens during these marches but tourists are always worried that something awful will go down.
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Because all tourists are unsophisticated idiots, why else would they go to France?

________________________

I was in Paris one Bastille Day and thought who else has military parades these days but North Korea, Russia, China and maybe a few other dictatorships.

Whether or not you are made nervous or reassured by the sight of police with firearms in Europe or America may have more to do with what you look like than the mindset and training of the people carrying the weapons. Fortress Europe and Fortress America doesn't strike me as a solution to anything, and is cause for concern in itself, even if you don't look like the kind of person officials don't shoot first and ask questions later or blast away with a drone. There are more sides to this than "our side".

manouche - We were at the Hotel de Ville yesterday afternoon around 4:30 p.m. Nothing going on then, but around 5:00 we walked up the rue de Turenne to catch the 96 bus back to our neighborhood and saw on the electronic sign that there would be a 25 minute wait for the next bus. Since, in our experience, that bus runs very frequently, we were perplexed about the wait time, but decided to walk home. Now we know why, I suppose.

<i>I was in Paris one Bastille Day and thought who else has military parades these days but North Korea, Russia, China and maybe a few other dictatorships.</i>

You've written that before, so your ignorance is showing again. Try doing a little research before you make a fool of yourself.

I was in Belgium for their national day this year and they have a military parade, just like many other western democracies.

Speaking of Belgium, it reminds me to add that -- contrary to what is being posted here -- tourists are well advised to avoid demonstrations in Europe, because in recent years there have been hard core groups of inciters of violence who frequent political demonstations, looking to provoke the police. Last year quite a few protest demonstrations in Europe's large cities, where many tourists go, turned into melees, and the difficullty for tourists is often that they do not know the streets, do not know which direction to go to be safe. In medieval quarters and historic centers, there is a real risk of being injured trying to get out of the way of a running, stampeding crowd in very tight quarters, with the police in pursuit). This can also be true of overheated sports events, not just political events, and travelers shouldn't be mocked for recognizing that, as visitors to a place where they surely do not fully understand the culture or the language, they are at a real disadvantage in staying as safe as a local might.

The idea that it is a shoulder-shrugger to be in a neighborhood where a quasi-military force is deployed 24/7 -- whether it is NYC or Paris or Gaza or a Budapest train station -- seems to me a real degradation of civilized standards. There is a long string of policymaking that is actually breeding terrorism, refugees, wall-building, heavily-armed guards and restrictions on free movement of everybody. Pass the cheese is part of the problem, not an attitude to be proud of.