France deploys 70,000 officers as new protests loom

France is deploying 70,000 police officers nationwide Saturday as it braces for another wave of protests, one week after unrest left shops looted and buildings burned. Major Paris museums are closed, businesses have boarded up their windows, and some cities have banned gatherings altogether.

Hundreds of thousands of people are expected to demonstrate, following a turnout of more than half a million last week. Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez said authorities would also use helicopters, armored vehicles and water cannons. “We will be uncompromising with the vandals, with the looters, and all those who commit acts of violence,” he said, according to the BBC.

The protests began last month with high school students demanding better school conditions and staffing, then spread as others took to the streets over rising living costs. President Emmanuel Macron met student representatives Friday. They said he had made clear commitments but urged students to “continue to mobilise.” Macron’s advisers told French television that the government would announce commitments to improve high school education from Monday, the BBC reported.

A march is planned in Paris, where authorities have ordered a student trade union demonstration backed by labor groups to avoid the city center. Another march is set for Marseille after officials reversed an order barring protests there to allow a trade union-organized event, according to the BBC. Authorities in Lyon, Nice and Montpellier have announced bans on gatherings.

The Louvre, Orsay Museum, Picasso Museum and Grand Palais are closed Saturday. Art Basel opened to the public Friday but canceled its weekend program because of the threat of unrest, CBS News reported. A Paris Saint-Germain home match has been moved to Monday, according to the BBC. Near Place de la République, a focus of last weekend’s unrest, businesses including a bank branch have been covered with wooden panels.

About 3,000 shops across France were damaged or looted last weekend, CBS News reported. In Limoges, a suspected arson nearly destroyed the 19th-century city hall. Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu said Friday that the national government would pay to rebuild it “exactly as it was,” rather than leave the cost to local taxpayers, according to the BBC.

Justice Minister Gérald Darmanin said 232 people had been imprisoned over the October 17 riots, more than 1,100 had appeared in court and about 260 cases involved charges of organized gang activity, the BBC reported.

The protests are also converging with a two-day congress of Marine Le Pen’s National Rally in Orléans. About 50 organizations, including unions, left-wing parties and student groups, have called for a demonstration against the far right alongside the gathering, CBS News reported. The BBC reported that the city’s mayor warned of unprecedented numbers and said thousands of officers would be deployed and public transport suspended.