Over 50,000 security personnel for French presidential runoff

Paris, May 6 (IANS) More than 50,000 security personnel will be deployed for the second and final round of the French presidential election slated to be held on Sunday in order to ensure maximum security, the Interior Ministry said on Saturday.

The deployment, which is to include national and local police, paramilitary forces and members of the military would be similar to that during the first round of the election on April 23, during which no incidents were reported, Efe news reported.

However, a terror attack carried out on April 20 on the Champs-Elysees in Paris that left one police officer dead and the arrest of a man who was allegedly planning an attack against a military base in Normandy had France on high alert.

In Paris, 896 polling stations are to be guarded by municipal and private security agents from 7 a.m. until 11 p.m., First Deputy Mayor of Paris Bruno Julliard told BFMTV.

Some 12,000 security personnel are to be deployed in Paris, 5,000 of them dedicated to guaranteeing the safety of voters and ensuring public order.

The En Marche! (On the move!) movement of independent centrist Emmanuel Macron, the frontrunner who goes head to head with far-right candidate Marine Le Pen of the National Front (FN), denounced that one of its offices in Lyon, eastern France, was attacked on Friday night by far-right extremists, who reportedly threw smoke bombs inside it.