ARMOURED vehicles and thousands of riot police will lock down Paris again this weekend, the city’s police chief Michel Delpuech said today as authorities planned for a fifth straight weekend of mass protests.

The giant “gilets jaunes” (yellow jackets) demonstrations have forced President Emmanuel Macron to drop a controversial new fuel tax, a planned tax on pensions for poorer retirees and to promise a €100 (£90) a month rise in the minimum wage, but the concessions have failed to quell the movement.

Trade union federation CGT secretary-general Philippe Martinez said yesterday the trade unions and yellow jackets should work together and adopt each others’ tactics, calling on demonstrators to join unions taking strike action or support them on picket lines.