France braces for fourth weekend of protests as Paris police block banned rally

France is bracing through a fourth straight weekend of protests, with tens of thousands hitting the streets and Paris police moving hard to stop one rally from reaching the president's doorstep. Authorities expected up to 170,000 demonstrators nationwide, including 60,000 in the capital.

About 70,000 security force members were deployed across the country, ready to pounce after an October 17 protest tipped into the worst rioting France has seen in years. Paris police had run more than 840 individual checks at train stations in the city and its inner suburbs by late morning, according to Agence France-Presse.

The split in the streets was the day's flashpoint. Unions stuck to a traditional route from Place de la Republique to Place de la Nation in eastern Paris. The Yellow Vests, the movement that rattled Emmanuel Macron early in his presidency, called a rival gathering at Place de la Concorde, a short walk from the Elysee Palace and the lower house of parliament. Authorities banned that one, and by morning a heavy police cordon had sealed off the area. The movement urged supporters to defy the ban anyway. 'We are calling for mass disobedience,' coordinating committee member Benjamin Ball said.

Marches were already rolling in Marseille, Bordeaux and Lille, AFP reporters said, while shops in Paris and other cities boarded up windows again with wooden shutters to head off looting. Interior Minister Laurent Nunez warned the danger had not faded. 'If there are any rioters or looters ... we'll be ready and waiting for them,' he said.

The unrest traces back to a late-September movement by high school students angry over conditions at their schools. University students joined in, and they remain at the core of the demonstrations. Police tactics are under scrutiny too, with dozens of internal investigations opened over alleged brutality against protesters, and AFP pressing Friday for protection of its journalists after what it described as repeated mistreatment of its reporters in the field.

Politically, the pressure is stacking up. Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu was set to meet unions and employer groups Monday on wages and purchasing power, while an inter-union coalition said only answers to workers', civil servants', young people's and pensioners' demands will end the protests. Student and teacher groups called a fresh strike for Tuesday. Polls show far-right candidate Marine Le Pen as the favorite for the Elysee in 2027, with hard-left leader Jean-Luc Melenchon, due to speak at a rally Saturday, currently her main rival rather than any Macron centrist ally.