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Strong police presence in Paris before planned ‘yellow vest’ protests

French authorities repeated calls for calm after previous violent demonstrations and rioting.

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A strong police presence was deployed in Paris on Saturday for planned demonstrations by the “yellow vest” protesters.

French authorities repeated calls for calm after protests in previous weekends turned violent.

Security forces in riot gear were positioned around central railway stations and along the famous Champs-Elysees boulevard, where shops were closed and their windows boarded up in anticipation of the protests.

Authorities said about 8,000 police officers and 14 armoured vehicles were being deployed in the French capital.

France Protests
Demonstrators wearing yellow vests talk to police officers on the Champs-Elysees in Paris (Kamil Zihnioglu/AP)

Last weekend, groups of demonstrators smashed and looted stores, clashing with police and setting up burning barricades in the streets.

The “yellow vest” movement, which takes its name from the fluorescent safety vests French motorists must all have in their vehicles, emerged in mid-November as a protest against fuel tax increases.

It soon expanded into an expression of rage about the high cost of living in France and a sense that President Emmanuel Macron’s government is detached from the everyday struggles of workers.

France Protests
Demonstrators wearing yellow vests walk down the Champs-Elysees (Kamil Zihnioglu/AP)

There was a strong police presence on Saturday outside the central Saint Lazare station, where police in riot gear checked bags.

More than 20 police vans and a water cannon truck were parked nearby.

Hundreds of people began converging on the Champs-Elysees during the morning.

“We’re here to represent all our friends and members of our family who can’t come to protest, or because they’re scared,” said Pierre Lamy, a 27-year-old industrial worker wearing a yellow vest and with a French flag draped over his shoulders as he walked to the protest with three friends.

He said the protests had long stopped being about the fuel tax and had turned into a movement for economic justice.

“Everything’s coming up now,” he said. “We’re being bled dry.”

France Protests
French President Emmanuel Macron has appealed for calm (Ludovic Marin/AP)

On Friday. Mr Macron called for calm during the demonstrations, and the French government reiterated the call online for demonstrators to remain peaceful.

“Protesting is a right. So let’s know how to exercise it,” the government tweeted from its official account, with a 34-second video which begins with images of historic French protests and recent footage of “yellow vests” rallying peacefully before turning to violence.

“Protesting is not smashing. Protesting is not smashing our heritage. Protesting is not smashing our businesses … Protesting is not smashing our republic,” the video says.

On Friday, President Emmanuel Macron called for calm during the demonstrations.

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