France braces for fresh wave of protests as 70,000 police officers deployed

Fox News correspondent Jonathan Hunt reported Saturday that thousands of people have now gathered in Paris, France, as the main protest march in the French capital is underway. 

"This is a protest, it started obviously, about educational standards. High school students were leading the protests. It has now become a much bigger protest about the cost of living, the problems of the French economy and the dissatisfaction, particularly among the youth, but also the fears of the older generation, pensions, etc., because the French economy is in so much trouble," Hunt told "Fox & Friends Weekend." 

"So this is what we are seeing right now. What is so far, a peaceful march. Obviously, the great concern here, is what happened last week, Oct. 17, when we saw, this kind of protest turn into violent rioting in the later hours, thousands of businesses right across France, not just in Paris, but in cities across France, got so badly damaged, there was so much looting," Hunt continued.

"What nobody wants is for that to happen again. The people, the groups leading these protests don't want that to happen. They know that their cause was hijacked by those who simply wanted to commit acts of violence," Hunt also said. "They hope that won't happen again today. But we're in the very early stages of this. Remember, in these situations, it is always in the later hours when that kind of activity, tends to burst open and you see the fires, you see the violence, you see the looting that we saw so much of last week." 

French Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez told police in Paris on Saturday that "We have to be ultra, ultra responsive," ahead of planned protests in the French capital, according to Reuters. 

"We have significant calls for disruption from political groups and quite simply from criminals," Nuñez reportedly said. "It is going to be a long day." 

He also told law enforcement to be "hyper-reactive" in going after potential troublemakers and looters, Reuters reported.  

The Paris Police Department said Saturday that it is "organizing massive checks, particularly in train stations and public transport, to deter those who might come to the capital with bad intentions." 

"Following 635 checks, numerous prohibited items have been seized and several arrests have been made," it added on X, sharing photos of a knife that apparently was removed from an individual. "We will be uncompromising." 

"At this hour, the situation is calm in Paris," Paris police also said. 

French Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez said as many as 70,000 officers will be deployed nationwide Saturday, along with helicopters, armored vehicles and water cannons, as the country braces for another wave of anti-government protests that led to widespread rioting and looting last weekend. 

Parisian shopkeepers have been barricading their stores all week, as some 3,000 shops across France were damaged or looted last weekend, according to The Associated Press. 

Protest marches are scheduled in Paris and Marseille, but some other rallies, including in Lyon, Nice and Montpellier, have been banned by local authorities. In Lyon, French media reported that police used tear gas Saturday morning. 

The protests began in France in September with calls for education reform, before expanding into larger anti-government demonstrations that French officials say are being fueled by far-left groups. 

"Last Saturday we had political and seditious acts by ultra-left groups whose aim is to bring down the Republic," French President Emmanuel Macron told the media this week, ahead of Saturday's planned demonstrations. 

The Associated Press contributed to this report.