Emmanuel Macron has been warned that the unrest that has gripped France could sp The hideout in the Paris suburbs was revealed in La Nouvelle Armée des Ombres (The New Army of Shadows), a new book by Pierre Gastineau, Antoine Izambard and Franck Renaud, all investigative journalists.

In recent weeks, France has been gripped by violent unrest, while spy chiefs are reportedly preparing for riots, sabotage, cyber attacks and even the deployment of special forces against an armed uprising in the 2027 presidential election.

The bunker preparations were partly prompted by the Yellow Vest uprising of 2018, when Mr Macron came under attack by furious protesters during a visit to Le Puy-en-Velay, according to extracts published in L’Express.

“The government trembled,” one author recalled on France Inter on Friday.

France has been hit by a series of demonstrations and disturbances over the past few weeks The authorities began considering presidential evacuation plans and invoking the violent riots of February 1934, which brought down a French government.

According to the authors, officials fear that a victory by Marine Le Pen’s populist-Right National Rally could provoke a “third round” in the streets by radical-Left activists, suburban youths and rural militants who refuse to accept the election result.

Conversely, a victory by Jean-Luc Mélenchon – the hard-Left France Unbowed candidate who, according to current polls, would reach the presidential run-off – could trigger “passive resistance” within the police.

After speaking to various high-level sources, the authors said Patrice Faure, the head of the Paris police, has held repeated meetings to prepare for an insurrection.

The Directorate General for External Security, France’s foreign intelligence agency, has simulated electoral interference, while police in the French capital have rehearsed operating for an entire day without encrypted smartphones in case of a crippling cyber attack.

Protesters across France have let their feelings be known these past few weeks One senior spy had warned the authors as early as April that France was heading towards a major revolt, citing rising fuel prices and anger simmering since the Yellow Vest protests.

Nevertheless, intelligence officers badly underestimated the Oct 17 demonstrations, predicting between 60,000 and 150,000 protesters when more than 500,000 turned out. The threats also extend overseas.

In an extraordinary exercise last year, Frontex, the European border agency, and French and Belgian security services simulated a hybrid crisis combining Russia’s shadow fleet with a fictional nuclear accident in Algeria, the book claims. Under the war-game, the co-ordinated strikes then triggered an exodus of migrants exposed to radiation towards Europe, alongside cyber attacks.

There have been warnings that France is heading towards a major revolt Meanwhile, French special forces have examined deploying troops to protect parliament in an armed uprising, say the authors.

A former officer of the 13th Parachute Dragoon Regiment revealed the contingency plans – ironic, considering that officers of the same unit backed the failed 1961 military putsch against Charles de Gaulle over Algerian independence.

The authors also report renewed interest among spies in reviving elements of clandestine Cold War resistance networks financed by a secret intelligence slush fund.

The fund’s assets reportedly included a Saigon brothel, Moroccan hotels and a Caribbean diving club; these were bought to bankroll resistance if the French state collapsed. But one former special-forces commander warned against deploying soldiers on French streets. His greatest fear was “that the Prince might develop a taste for it”.