French President Emmanuel Macron said yesterday that “illegitimate” protests would be banned in the coming days and blamed “seditious” ultra-left groups and vandals for last weekend’s riots and looting.
Speaking after a meeting with intelligence chiefs and senior ministers, Macron said demonstrations organised by groups such as trade unions would be allowed to go ahead but could be diverted along alternative routes to protect businesses.
“Last Saturday we had political and seditious acts by ultra-left groups whose aim is to bring down the Republic,” Macron said. His comments came as authorities across France prepared for fresh protests following some of the country’s worst urban unrest in years.
All protests planned for Saturday in Lyon, France’s second-largest city, have been banned, local authorities said. Yet fresh demonstrations are already taking shape ahead of what officials fear could be another volatile weekend.
France’s main student union, UNEF, has called for rallies tomorrow, while the Yellow Vest movement, the anti-establishment force that emerged in 2018, has filed plans for a march through central Paris.
Businesses in central Paris have begun boarding up their shop windows in case of violence. Luxury goods group Hermes said it had stepped up security measures at its French stores.
Elsewhere, authorities in the northern city of Orleans were bracing for potential unrest as the far-right National Rally was due to hold an annual meeting and unions and left-wing groups planned demonstrations.