The U.S. State Department issued a travel warning for France, ahead of a busy weekend in Paris that promises an ‘act two’ following riots last week, and a major NFL match in the city.
“Violence and rioting, tied to ongoing protests, have recently occurred in France and may continue”, the U.S. Embassy in Paris said in a security alert to American tourists in the city it advised to avoid “areas of unrest”.
Large crowds and significant police activity should also be skirted by Americans abroad, the embassy said, which noted that multiple groups had signalled intent to protest in Paris over the weekend and that the French government had said it would “curb ‘illegitimate’ protests’. The embassy said: “Recent demonstrations were violent and involved heavy property destruction, uncontrolled looting, and attacks on police. Police responded with crowd control methods including tear gas.”
France has been rocked by weeks of protests turned to riots and looting after, it is stated by the French government, hard-left groups infiltrated an organic student protest movement that began in September. These events stepped up to a new level of violence on Saturday when attacks on property and police became more widespread, looting swept some Paris neighbourhoods, and a city hall in the south of the country, allegedly by a hard-left terror cell.
Groups involved in the protests have promised an “act two” this weekend, with marches planned for Saturday and Sunday. The co-occurrence of the NFL International Series game in Paris on Sunday is likely to introduce a large number of American visitors to a city that may be experiencing episodes of extreme violence, and heavy police action.
The French government has already acknowledged it failed to react fast enough to events last weekend and has vowed to do better this time, and has called a massive police deployment, enabled in part by the deployment of the French military backfilling officers sent to the front line.
The situation has the potential to produce an opposite news cycle to that recently experienced in the United States when the 2026 FIFA World Cup played a series of matches in America, leading to visiting European sports fans reporting in amazement back home on American food, hospitality, and gas stations.
The Pittsburgh Steelers and New Orleans Saints will play in Paris on Sunday, the first NFL game in France ever. Despite the risk of violence from protests in the city over the weekend, NFL Executive Vice President Peter O’Reilly confirmed it would definitely be going ahead and said “there was never a point that the game was in danger of not being played at Stade de France… There’s nothing more important from our standpoint than the teams’ security, the fans’ security—everybody involved with this game”.
ESPN reports Steelers quarterback Aaron Rodgers spoke from Paris on Friday to say: “I definitely think that the NFL is alert to what’s going on. This game means a lot to the NFL. If it was unsafe, then I’m sure we wouldn’t be here”.
Breitbart Sports reported on Friday that the Steelers had cancelled a fan event in Paris out of safety concerns. They said in a statement: “following recent events in the Bastille neighborhood and after careful consideration, we felt it appropriate not to move forward with the planned Steelers House fan event in Paris”.
