France is deploying about 70,000 police and security personnel nationwide on Saturday as it braces for fresh protests, a week after some of the worst urban violence in years, including looting and arson, erupted on the sidelines of demonstrations.
Interior Minister Laurent Nunez announced the deployment at a news conference in Paris, warning that calls for violence and looting were circulating on social media. The movement began with high school students protesting about learning conditions and has spread nationwide, fuelled by wider anger over the cost of living. Justice Minister Gerald Darmanin said courts had already jailed 217 people over last weekend's events, half of them first-time offenders.
President Emmanuel Macron met representatives of secondary school pupils on Friday, but they emerged urging students to keep protesting until the government offers concrete proposals. Macron has called for "the utmost severity" against acts of delinquency and accused "ultra-left" groups of trying to "bring down the republic".
The unrest comes six months before the election to replace Macron, with a new poll showing far-right leader Marine Le Pen as frontrunner. Her National Rally holds its congress in Orleans this weekend, where 20,000 to 30,000 counter-protesters are expected. Protests have been restricted in Paris, Lyon and other cities, the Louvre and other major museums will close on Saturday, and Amnesty International has warned the measures jeopardise the right to peaceful protest.