French authorities have imposed bans and restrictions on protests planned for this weekend, with President Emmanuel Macron declaring “the priority is a return to calm” after last weekend’s demonstrations degenerated into the country’s worst street violence in years.

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Authorities announced the measures on Thursday following a meeting of key ministers and intelligence officials chaired by Macron. The steps include curfews and bans on “groups without legitimacy” holding protests, while Macron said he would chair a defence council meeting on Friday to decide “the next steps” for nationwide demonstrations called for Saturday and beyond.

Macron blamed the worst of the violence on “organised ultra-left groups aiming to bring down the republic,” accusing them of “sedition.” Officials are still grappling with the fallout from the October 17 clashes, which saw widespread looting and vandalism of public buildings on the margins of mass demonstrations involving more than half a million people against the surging cost of living. The government has admitted police lost control, and candidates vying to succeed Macron in presidential elections six months away argue the authorities are incapable or unwilling to restore order.

Protests Banned

A Paris protest organised by students on Thursday went ahead with hundreds attending after a police ban was overturned by an emergency court injunction. “The authorities are trying to make a distinction between ‘good’ and ‘bad’ protesters,” said student leader Coppelia Moreau. “What we are seeing is a government that doesn’t want any demonstrations at all. That goes against the right to demonstrate.”

Authorities declared a ban on “all protests” in the southeastern city of Lyon on Saturday. France’s third-biggest city saw 200 to 300 shops looted and a tourist office torched last weekend in what its mayor described as hours of “chaos.” Grenoble, Rouen, Le Havre and Toulon also issued bans on protests in their city centres.

In Paris, police said Saturday’s march could be held in the east of the capital starting at Bastille but was banned from heading into the city centre, where shops and major public buildings are located. The Yellow Vest movement organising the cost-of-living rallies alongside unions said it did not agree with the order. “We won’t sign off on it,” said Benjamin Ball, who runs an online map showing the planned locations of Saturday’s demonstrations.

Art Basel Paris, the capital’s biggest art fair, said it would shut this weekend, two days early, due to the protests. The interior ministry said “20 per cent more” police would be deployed on Saturday than last weekend.

Detentions and Dialogue

Justice Minister Gerald Darmanin said 217 people of the 2,700 arrested during and since last weekend had been locked up, with 1,000 more being prosecuted. On Thursday, a 66-year-old man was arrested over the arson of the 19th-century town hall in Limoges; a man in his 30s had already been arrested Tuesday over the same crime.

Marine Le Pen, the far-right leader currently topping opinion polls for the April-May presidential elections, accused Macron and his centrist government of being too soft and lacking authority. Jean-Luc Melenchon, a far-left candidate criticised by the government for not strongly condemning the protest violence, blamed authorities’ “non-stop brutal repression” for the unrest.

Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu on Thursday hosted a meeting of top officials from France’s main parties. While most sent their leaders, Le Pen’s National Rally was represented by a lower-ranking party official. Lecornu was to follow that with a meeting with mayors, and on Monday he will meet student groups, unions and the employer federation.