France puts 70,000 police on the streets for a second Saturday of protests, with the Louvre closed and Paris shops boarded up

French security forces fanned out across Paris before dawn on Saturday, ahead of protests the government feared would turn violent for the second Saturday in a row. Interior Minister Laurent Nunez has put 70,000 police and gendarmes on duty nationwide, 10,000 more than on October 17, backed by specialist intervention units, armored vehicles and water cannons. Soldiers from an antiterrorism unit patrolled the Champs Elysees while police vans circled the Arc de Triomphe.

Picture is an illustration of police lines and boarded shopfronts on a Paris boulevard.

Speaking to officers in Paris, Nunez warned that they would face attempts to target shops, public buildings and the security forces themselves. “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.”

The marches were called by groups including the student union UNEF and the Yellow Vest movement, over high living costs and cuts to public services. Anger that began with students has drawn in workers and unions over recent weeks. The police prefecture changed the agreed Paris route on Friday evening, moving the march away from the Bastille to Nation path onto the outer boulevards of the southeast, citing the risk of renewed violence. Organizers said the new route would be harder to secure, said they intended to march the original path anyway, and unions challenged the change in court. A police intelligence assessment reported by Le Monde put the expected Paris crowd at between 60,000 and 120,000 people.

Much of central Paris shut itself down in advance. The Louvre and several other major museums closed for the day. Staff at Louis Vuitton, Dior and Bulgari stores near Place Vendome said security had been increased, and the Printemps department store reinforced its windows and entrances. Hermes told investors this week it had also raised security at its French stores. One tourist from Cambodia, Jerry Lay, told Reuters he had bought items on the Champs Elysees earlier in the week and had lived through last Saturday: “I’d say it’s 50/50 whether I would consider coming back next time.”

The government is trying to prevent a repeat of October 17, when more than 3,000 businesses were damaged or looted across France, as of the official count, and crowds stormed public buildings in several cities. Italy braced in parallel on Saturday, with security forces deployed in eight cities including Rome and Milan for demonstrations called by a movement named after October 17, over budget cuts and the cost of housing and fuel.