France bans protests near Louvre, Champs-Élysées as unions vow to push ahead

France shifted to a hard-line crackdown on nationwide protests Thursday, with police enforcing demonstration bans across Paris.

According to AFP, police announced Wednesday a list of no-protest zones in Paris. The banned areas include major state institutions — among them the Élysée Palace and both chambers of parliament — as well as key tourist sites such as the Louvre Museum and the Champs-Élysées. Place de la Bastille, Place de la République and the Châtelet-Les Halles shopping zone, which was heavily targeted by looters last weekend, were also placed off-limits. The ban applies from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.

The measures came in response to protests that began as student demonstrations over poor educational conditions and swelled as citizens joined in to protest soaring living costs, before descending into violence. Student protests have kept many schools closed for a month, and a cost-of-living rally held Saturday drew some 500,000 people across France.

When masked youths went beyond protesting — looting shops, clashing with police and setting fires — the French government hardened its stance. Justice Minister Gérald Darmanin said Wednesday that about 2,500 people had been detained during and after the unrest, of whom 174 were jailed. Separately, 917 people faced formal indictment. Additional protests planned by high school and university students were banned in both Paris and the southeastern city of Lyon.

Organizers said they would press ahead with a large-scale march and rally Saturday despite the government's warnings.

Sophie Binet, who leads the hard-line General Confederation of Labor, said after meeting Prime Minister Sébastien Le Cornu on Wednesday that "none of our demands have been taken into account" and that it was "time to escalate our action to the next level," reaffirming plans for a strike.

Meanwhile, the French government pushed back against attempts to frame the unrest as the work of immigrants — a narrative it said was being exploited to advance right-wing political arguments.

President Emmanuel Macron, speaking to reporters in Doha, Qatar, on Wednesday, said "there are people using France to campaign — leaders who are campaigning, whether here in the region or across the Atlantic." He added that "information manipulation" around the unrest was being used for political gain, producing "statements that are not only stupid but unacceptable" from many people, including foreign leaders.

The remarks appeared to be directed at Donald Trump, who has claimed the unrest was caused by immigrants and warned that similar chaos could strike the United States if the Democratic Party won the midterm elections. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who faces a general election next week, has echoed Trump's framing, suggesting Macron may also have had Netanyahu in mind.