Paris was in lockdown on Saturday, with the Eiffel Tower and other tourist landmarks shut, as French security forces braced for renewed rioting by “yellow vest” protesters in the capital. Shops were boarded up to avoid looting and street furniture removed to avoid metal bars from being used as projectiles amid fears of the fourth weekend of violence over living costs, according to Telegraph.

About 89,000 police were deployed across the country, of which about 8,000 were deployed in Paris to avoid a repeat of last Saturday’s mayhem when rioters torched cars and looted shops off the famed Champs Elysees boulevard. Protesters, using social media, have billed the weekend as “Act IV” in a dramatic challenge to President Emmanuel Macron and his policies. “According to the information we have, some radicalized and rebellious people will try to get mobilized tomorrow,” Interior Minister Christophe Castaner said on Friday. “Some ultra-violent people want to take part.”

In addition to the closure of the Eiffel Tower, many shops and museums across Paris, including the Louvre, the Orsay Museum and the Grand Palais, will be shut on Saturday for safety reasons. Music festivals, operas and other cultural events in the capital were cancelled.

The National Federation of French markets said that Christmas markets have been “strongly impacted” and that its members registered “an average fall of their estimated figures between 30 and 40 percent since the beginning of the yellow vest movement.” “It’s with an immense sadness that we’ll see our city partially brought to a halt, but your safety is our priority,” said Mayor Anne Hidalgo. “Take care of Paris on Saturday because Paris belongs to all the French people.”

The protests, named after the high-visibility safety jackets French motorists have to keep in their cars, erupted in November over the squeeze on household budgets caused by fuel taxes. Demonstrations have since swelled into a broad, sometimes-violent rebellion against Mr Macron – a challenge made more difficult to handle since the movement has no formal leader.