Shops and museums prepare to close across France this weekend as rallies are banned in two major cities

A week after protests turned violent across the country, President Emmanuel Macron's government is determined to restore order in France. Despite restrictions on demonstrations, a number of businesses, cultural events and museums are planning to stay closed over the weekend, so that any fresh unrest causes as little damage as possible.

The country's main student organisation, UNEF, has called a rally for Saturday. The anti-establishment 'Yellow Vest' movement, which emerged in 2018, has also announced plans for a march in central Paris this week. Macron was due to meet student representatives on Friday to discuss their plans.

UNEF, however, has already made clear that its rally will go ahead regardless. In an emailed statement, the organisation said Macron 'is trampling on the freedom to protest in our country and spitting on the republican values he claims to defend.' The movement grew out of high school protests last month against teacher shortages and dilapidated facilities.

France has yet to recover from last weekend's shock — the worst violence in recent years, with looting and rioting alongside protests across the country. Since then, night curfews imposed on parts of Paris and other cities have calmed the situation somewhat, and the days have passed without major incident.

Macron has blamed the violence on insurrectionary hard-left groups. The influential left-wing party France Unbowed has denied the accusation. On Thursday, Macron said illegal protests would be banned in the coming days. Demonstrations organised by groups such as trade unions would be allowed to proceed, though they might be rerouted.

The government's hard line has already drawn criticism. Marylise Léon, general secretary of the CFDT, one of the country's largest labour organisations, said the measures were unlikely to restore calm. 'It will backfire, because there is a lot of anger, a lot of anger, and a demand to be taken into account and listened to,' she told the French broadcaster TF1. In her view, the government should instead come forward with concrete proposals to address people's anger.

The protesters' demands are mainly economic. Workers, students and others are protesting budget cuts and demanding higher wages to help people cope with the high cost of living. The government says it understands the public's concerns, but that spending must be kept under control to manage the rising cost of borrowing.

Local authorities say all planned protests for Saturday have already been banned in Marseille and Lyon, France's second- and third-largest cities. According to the justice minister, 2,700 people have been arrested since Saturday. Even so, fears of further unrest have not subsided.

It is out of those fears that the precautionary weekend closures have come. The Marseille Chamber of Commerce has urged businesses to stay closed on Saturday. The organisers of Art Basel Paris have announced that the art fair will remain closed for the entire weekend. The famous Louvre museum and the Fondation Louis Vuitton will also be shut on Saturday.

All of France is now watching the weekend. With the students' rally, the Yellow Vests' march and the government's hard line in the face of bans, the direction of the coming days depends on how these forces collide. Whether the government's strategy restores calm, or the bans inflame anger further, will become clear this weekend.