Luxury shops in France boarded up windows and added guards, while some of its top tourist attractions and metro stations closed, ahead of protests on Saturday, after rioters looted shops across the country last weekend.
The Louvre, Musée d'Orsay and the Opera House will remain closed throughout Saturday as authorities fear renewed violence, with 70,000 police officers deployed across the country.
Some shopkeepers have begun arming themselves with baseball bats, crowbars and shotguns to protect their businesses.
French president Emmanuel Macron met with high school unions yesterday in an 11th hour attempt to quell unrest anticipated over the weekend.
However, student leaders emerged from the talks dissatisfied, urging pupils to continue protesting until the government presented concrete proposals to address their demands.
"We are not satisfied," said Nathanael Combary, president of the campaign group High School Renewal, calling on students to maintain a "standoff" with the government ahead of further talks with the prime minister on Monday.
The demonstrations, which began over deteriorating conditions in schools, have spread across France, fuelled by wider anger over rising living costs and strained public services.
Metro stations shut down, BBC reports
The BBC reports that Paris’s transport authority, the RATP, has confirmed that several metro stations in the city have shut down because of today's protests.
What to know about the weapons and tactics blamed for injuring French protesters
The European cities facing more protests from Paris to Milan as cost of living crisis bites
Violent protests have broken out across Europe amid growing frustration over the cost of living crisis, a lack of affordable housing and deteriorating conditions in schools.
As many as 550,000 people turned out across France last Saturday, according to authorities, to demonstrate against declining public services. Protests turned violent in Paris as shops were looted and cars set on fire in some of the city’s worst violence in years.
France is now bracing for another weekend of unrest, despite curfews imposed across the country and an 11th hour meeting between president Emmanuel Macron and high school unions on Friday to hear out their concerns and demands.
Read more below:
.png?trim=162%2C28%2C133%2C24&width=1200&height=800&crop=1200%3A800&quality=75&width=640&auto=webp)
France mounts huge security operation as protesters prepare to march
French security forces fanned out across Paris on Saturday ahead of protests that authorities fear could turn violent, with interior minister Laurent Nunez urging police to be "hyper-reactive" against troublemakers and looters.
Soldiers from an anti-terrorism military unit patrolled the Champs-Elysees avenue while police vans circled the Arc de Triomphe, looking to protect some of the capital's most famous sites from any repeat of the unrest that shook France last week.
Nunez has mobilised 70,000 police nationwide for Saturday's demonstrations, 10,000 more than on 17 October, when a wave of vandalism and looting raised questions about the government's ability to maintain order.
Anger over living costs and strained public services has drawn students, workers and unions onto the streets in recent weeks, but authorities say radical militants and bands of young looters have exploited the protests to sow chaos. Speaking to police in Paris, Nunez warned officers that they would face attempts to target shops, public institutions and security forces.
"We have to be ultra, ultra responsive. We have significant calls for disruption `from political groups and quite simply from criminals," he said. "It is going to be a long day."
Watch live: France braces for another weekend of protests as 70,000 police deployed
Louvre shuts down over fears of violence in Paris
The Louvre is closed on Saturday, along with several other major Paris museums, because of concerns about potential violence during planned protests, France's culture ministry says.
The Orsay and Picasso museums are also among those that are closed, the ministry said.
The ministry called on all institutions under its authority to adopt any necessary measures to ensure “visitor safety, staff protection and the preservation of artworks”.
The closures follow protests last Saturday that descended into mayhem, with rioters setting fires, smashing shop windows, looting and clashing with police.
Read more:
Trump questions NFL’s decision to go ahead with Paris game
President Donald Trump has questioned the NFL’s decision to go ahead with a game in Paris amid widespread unrest in the country.
The first regular-season NFL game to be staged in France is due to kick off on Sunday at the Stade de France in Saint-Denis, which sits just north of Paris.
Trump said Friday that the league “could have probably postponed” the fixture between the Pittsburgh Steelers and the New Orleans Saints.
Read more:
France's luxury stores board up windows ahead of fresh protests
Luxury boutiques in France boarded up their normally glitzy windows and added guards ahead of fresh protests on Saturday, with some planning to stay closed after rioters looted shops across the country last weekend.
France, the most visited country in the world, draws large numbers of overseas shoppers seeking Chanel handbags and Hermes scarves, an important source of revenue for brands facing slowing demand.
But some decided staying open was too risky after last week's events, when rioters smashed and looted hundreds of shops in Paris, Marseille and Bordeaux.
A Rolex retailer and a De Beers store near the capital's famous Place Vendome will remain closed on Saturday, staff said, while managers at stores including Richemont-owned IWC said they would decide whether to close early depending on the intensity of the protests.
Staff at LVMH brands Louis Vuitton, Dior and Bulgari said they weren't taking any chances and security at their stores near Place Vendome had been increased for the day. Additional private security to supplement the police presence in the neighbourhood is also planned.
Nearby department store Printemps also increased its security staff, carried out safety repairs and added security measures to reinforce shop windows and entrances, a spokesperson for the store said.
Hermes finance chief Eric du Halgouet said this week the company had increased security measures at its French stores, adding it was too early to say how much impact recent events would have on business.
Lidiya Shevchenko, a sales assistant at a Graziella Braccialini store, said she doubted many people would be looking to visit stores anyway during the protests.
"I suppose the mood is just as important when it comes to shopping," Shevchenko said.
What sparked the fiery protests in France – and how they are spreading across Europe
Demonstrations were boosted by other groups last week, protesting the high cost of living and what they say is the deterioration of the social welfare system.
The General Confederation of Labour (CGT), which is one of the country’s largest unions, backed the protests, issuing a call for lower prices and higher pensions and wages.
Tens of thousands of people took to the streets. Protesters in Marseille stormed the town hall, painting an ‘A’ for anarchy on a wall, while in Paris, police fired tear gas and a water cannon and rioters threw stones and fireworks.
In Lyon, protesters set fire to the city’s tourism office.
French authorities said there were more than 500,000 protesters across the country, with more than 800 arrests in Paris alone.
Macron has called for calm, saying “we all feel anger and shame” after “unprecedented violence” nationwide. He vowed to “make examples if need be” of the rioters, warning for “those who want to spark violence and create unrest in our country, we will not yield”.
Read more:
