French government

Aer Lingus flight EI402 carrying 151 passengers and six crew lands safely at the Évreux‑Fauville airbase in Normandy after a bomb threat is reported【】【】. French authorities escort the aircraft with a fighter jet and move all occupants to a secure area while bomb‑defusal teams inspect the plane【】【】. A Finnair Helsinki‑Rome service is escorted by Italian Air Force jets to Rome and examined by bomb‑disposal experts【】. About a dozen other European passenger flights, including a LOT service from Warsaw to Brussels, are forced to land or divert because of similar threats【】【】. Czech police also receive bomb‑threat reports concerning four flights destined for Prague【】.

Protesters in France are wearing surgical and FFP2 masks to protect themselves from tear gas and to conceal their faces at demonstrations. Prefects have banned protective gear at protests, but the Council of State has ruled that the ban does not extend to surgical and FFP2 masks, according to The Conversation. The report also recalls that in March 2020 the French government said there was no risk of a mask shortage, even though a decree reserved mask stocks for health professionals. Sibeth Ndiaye, then a government spokesperson, explained at the time that wearing a mask required precise technical gestures and that she could not use one.

The French government reports 1,314 arrests during Saturday's protests, while other outlets cite more than 1,000 detainees. Police and elite security units were deployed across the country, and authorities used tear gas and water cannons after nightfall in several cities.