Lyon bans all protests on Saturday as France locks down its cities ahead of a second weekend of demonstrations

France is trying to get ahead of Saturday this time. The prefecture for the Rhone region said on Thursday that, given the events of October 17, the prefect has decided to ban by decree all protests in the city of Lyon this Saturday, October 24. Lyon is France's third biggest city, and last weekend it saw hours of chaos on the sidelines of mass rallies against high inflation: masked youths looted between 150 and 200 shops, a tourist office was torched, and police arrested some 200 people. Mayor Gregory Doucet has said the city lived through hours of chaos.

Lyon is the sharpest measure in a list the government has built all week. Partial night curfews were imposed in parts of Paris and several other cities on Monday and Tuesday nights, covering the districts where clashes broke out and the shopping zones looters targeted. Paris has banned public gatherings on the Champs Elysees, near major public buildings and near train stations, and banned anyone from carrying bottles or cans of petrol or gas, or possessing fireworks, through Thursday. Marseille has banned unaccompanied minors from its central shopping streets every night through Friday. Elite police units have been mobilized, and soldiers of Operation Sentinelle, who patrol airports, stations and tourist sites, will keep protecting those places.

Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu has vowed a massive security deployment for Saturday, after his government admitted it lost control last weekend. President Emmanuel Macron, speaking from Qatar on Wednesday, said there would be no repeat of the violence. "Those who want to cause disorder in city centers next Saturday will be prevented from doing so," he said. "There must be no wavering at the top of the state." Macron has not declared a state of emergency, which would let troops reinforce police lines. He also used the trip to blame foreign leaders, President Donald Trump among them, for comments about the unrest that he called unacceptable and stupid.

The demonstrations are still called. The Yellow Vest movement and the unions have set another round of nationwide protests over the cost of living for Saturday, and a general strike and demonstrations for November 5. Student groups have called protests of their own over education spending. The government has announced interest free loans for the 3,000 shops damaged or looted last weekend; shop owners say that is not enough. One person is confirmed dead from the unrest, a Paris protester who died of a cardiac arrest. Saturday is the test of whether the bans and the deployment hold, or whether last weekend was the start of something longer, as of October 22.

The picture with this story is an illustration.