France deploys 70,000 police ahead of cost-of-living protests

French unions and student groups called a nationwide day of protest on Saturday against the rising cost of living, while the Yellow Vests movement pressed ahead with a separate rally in central Paris that authorities have banned.

Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said 70,000 police officers and security forces would be deployed across the country. "If there are any rioters or looters ... we'll be ready and waiting for them," he said, according to CNA.

Student groups and trade unions called an authorised march in central Paris "against the high cost of living and in support of young people". The Yellow Vests refused to join it and called their own gathering at Place de la Concorde, near the lower house of parliament and the presidential palace, an area where demonstrations are banned. "We are calling for mass disobedience," said Benjamin Ball, a member of the movement's coordinating committee.

The day follows Thursday's strikes, when hundreds of thousands of workers took to the streets across France. The interior ministry said those protests had "generally gone well" and reported 642 arrests, though clashes between demonstrators and police broke out in several cities. On Oct 17 the country saw its worst rioting in years.

Unions are demanding an increase in the minimum wage, which has had no discretionary rise since 2012, as well as across-the-board pay raises, tax reforms and better learning conditions for students. An inter-union coalition said on Friday: "The only thing that will bring the protests to an end is a response to the demands that have been put forward for several weeks by workers, civil servants, young people and pensioners."

Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu is due to meet representatives of trade unions and employers' organisations on Monday to discuss wages and purchasing power.

The protests come less than six months before voters elect a new head of state to replace the centrist President Emmanuel Macron, whose term ends in May 2027. CNA reported that the far right leads opinion polls. With the European Union's second-largest economy under pressure to rein in debt, the government has limited scope to meet the unions' demands.

The policing of the demonstrations has drawn criticism. Dozens of internal investigations have been opened into allegations of brutality against protesters. Reporters Without Borders said it had recorded 40 cases of journalists obstructed while covering the protests, including 21 involving physical violence. Agence France-Presse urged protection for its journalists after several instances of apparent police brutality against its reporters.