France sends military to back up police for Saturday protests

The deployment follows curfews already imposed as a budget standoff and pension protests push French bond yields to their highest level since 2002

France's interior minister says the government will deploy military forces alongside police for Saturday's demonstrations, adding troops to curfews already in place across parts of the country.

The move follows a weekend of looting and arson that spread across France as protests over pensions and the budget intensified. French 10-year yields have climbed to their highest since 2002, reaching 4.94% and on track for their largest one-day rise since March 2025, while the spread over German Bund yields widened to 146 basis points, its widest in two weeks.

The budget standoff that underlies the unrest has stalled in parliament. Deputies voted 31 to 3 on October 9 to reject the revenue section of the social security budget, sending floor debate back to the government's original text.

Treasuries and US equities have stayed untouched by the French bond stress, and gold has not caught a bid either: GLD slipped 0.81% to $378.92 as French yields rose. Deploying troops alongside police marks an attempt by Paris to contain the street dimension of the crisis before it compounds the budget fight, but the episode has so far stayed confined to French bonds, the euro and gold. Whether that containment holds will depend on how Saturday's protests unfold now that military reinforcement sits on top of curfews already ordered, with a state of emergency still a possibility.