Macron bans illegitimate protests and blames the ultra left, Marseille joins Lyon under a full Saturday ban, and 217 people are already in jail

The French government stopped describing Saturday as a protest day and started describing it as a security operation. After a meeting with intelligence chiefs and senior ministers on Thursday, President Emmanuel Macron said illegitimate protests will be banned in the coming days. Demonstrations organized by groups such as trade unions will be allowed, but they can be moved to alternative routes to protect businesses.

Macron named who he blames. Last Saturday we had political and seditious acts by ultra left groups whose aim is to bring down the Republic, he said. That is a stronger claim than blaming rioters at the edges of a march, and it will be contested. What is not contested is the scale of what happened on October 17, when about 550,000 people demonstrated across France and looting and clashes followed in Paris, Marseille, Lyon and other cities.

The map of bans grew through the day. Lyon ban on all Saturday protests, reported this morning, now has company. Marseille will also bar demonstrations on Saturday, suspend public transport for the day, and put the whole population under an overnight curfew from 11 at night to 5 in the morning on Saturday night. Similar measures were announced for Nice, Toulon, Grenoble and the center of Rouen. In Paris, the Louvre, the Orsay and the Picasso museums will stay closed on Saturday. Businesses in the center of the capital have begun boarding their windows, and Hermes said it has stepped up security at its French stores.

The courts are moving at the same speed as the police. Justice Minister Gerald Darmanin said 217 people have already been jailed after fast track trials, out of 2,700 arrests across the country, as of October 22. More than 1,000 of those detained have appeared in court, and half had no previous criminal record, he said. Interior Minister Jean Didier Berger said police numbers will rise 20 percent compared with last weekend, even as some officers told French media they lack training for crowd control on this scale.

The calls for Saturday have not stopped. The student union UNEF has called rallies, and the Yellow Vest movement has filed plans for a march through central Paris. A student protest called for Thursday in Paris was banned, and metro stations in the center were shut anyway in expectation of crowds gathering without permission. In Orleans, authorities are bracing for a National Rally annual meeting and counter demonstrations by unions and left wing groups at the same time. France first Saturday was a surprise to its government, by the government own admission. The second Saturday will not be. Whether that is enough is the open question of the weekend.