French Police Block Banned Yellow Vest Rally Near Presidential Palace

French authorities deployed 70,000 police officers and gendarmes across the country on Saturday to police nationwide cost-of-living demonstrations and stop a banned protest near the Elysee Palace.

While labor unions and student organizations staged an authorized march from Place de la Republique to Place de la Nation in central Paris, the Yellow Vests movement urged followers to stage civil disobedience at Place de la Concorde. Paris police cordoned off the area around Place de la Concorde, preventing demonstrators from assembling near the presidential residence and the National Assembly.

Officers arrested Yellow Vests coordination committee member Benjamin Ball and spokesperson Azelma Sigaux outside parliament early in the afternoon. Police also conducted more than 840 identity checks at railway stations across Paris and surrounding suburbs by late morning. Interior Minister Laurent Nunez declared that law enforcement would act immediately against any rioters or looters, maintaining security protocols following violent clashes on October 17 that generated over one billion euros in property damage.

Authorities projected nationwide turnout of up to 170,000 demonstrators, including 60,000 in the capital. The Saturday mobilizations represent the fourth consecutive weekend of cost-of-living protests, coming two days after a November 5 national strike where the Interior Ministry counted over 600,000 participants and the CGT union reported nearly 1.6 million. Demonstrations also mobilized in Marseille, Bordeaux, and Lille, where retailers boarded storefronts with wooden shutters.