PARIS, Dec 8 (INP) - Paris police detained nearly 300 people Saturday ahead of fresh anti-‎government "yellow vest" protests which authorities fear could turn violent for a third weekend in a ‎row.‎

‎ Clad in their luminous road safety jackets, dozens of demonstrators -- who accuse President ‎Emmanuel Macron of only looking out for the rich -- gathered at dawn on the Champs-Elysees, the ‎scene last Saturday of the worst rioting in Paris for decades.‎

"We had to come to Paris to be heard," said protester Herve Benoit, arriving with three friends from ‎the Dordogne in western France.‎

‎ He called on the government to boost people’s spending power and increase taxes on the ‎wealthiest. ‎

‎ By 8.40 am (0740 GMT) police had already detained 278 people.‎

‎ Some 8,000 police were deployed, carrying out checks on people arriving at train stations and at ‎protest hotspots such as the Champs-Elysees and Bastille monument.‎

‎ A source close to the operation told AFP that at least 34 people were arrested for carrying masks, ‎hammers, slingshots and rocks that could be used to attack police.‎

‎ Shops, museums, the Eiffel Tower and many metro stations were closed as much of the city-centre ‎went on effective lockdown. Top-flight football matches and concerts were cancelled.‎

‎ Last weekend’s violence, which saw some 200 cars torched and the Arc de Triomphe vandalised, ‎shook France and plunged Macron’s government into its deepest crisis so far.‎

‎ Interior Minister Christophe Castaner said he expected "only a few thousand people" to descend on ‎Paris after the 8,000 protesters counted last weekend, "but among them are ultraviolent individuals".‎

‎ "These past three weeks have produced a monster that its creators no longer control," Castaner said, ‎vowing "zero tolerance" towards those aiming to wreak further destruction.‎

‎ Prime Minister Edouard Philippe on Friday evening met a delegation of self-described "moderate" ‎yellow vests who have urged people not to join the protests.‎

‎ After the meeting a spokesman from the movement, Christophe Chalencon, said Philippe had ‎‎"listened to us and promised to take our demands to the president".‎

‎ "Now we await Mr Macron. I hope he will speak to the people of France as a father, with love and ‎respect and that he will take strong decisions," he said.‎

‎ Philippe said some 89,000 police were being mobilised nationwide, with a dozen armoured vehicles ‎deployed in Paris for the first time in decades.‎

‎Shops around the Champs-Elysees boulevard boarded up their windows and emptied them of ‎merchandise on Friday, while the Louvre, Musee d’Orsay and other museums were shut.‎

‎ Department stores were also staying closed due to the risk of looting on what would normally be a ‎busy shopping weekend in the run-up to Christmas.‎

‎ Foreign governments are watching developments closely in one of the world’s most visited cities. ‎

‎ The US embassy issued a warning to Americans in Paris to "keep a low profile and avoid crowds", ‎while Belgium, Portugal and the Czech Republic advised citizens planning to visit Paris over the ‎weekend to postpone their visit. ‎

‎ In a warning of impending violence, an MP for Macron’s party, Benoit Potterie, received a bullet in ‎the post on Friday with the words: "Next time it will be between your eyes."‎

‎ Calls on social media for protesters to attack the police or march on the presidential palace have ‎especially rattled the authorities.‎

Macron this week gave in to some of the protesters’ demands for measures to help the poor and ‎struggling middle classes, including scrapping a planned increase in fuel taxes and freezing electricity ‎and gas prices in 2019.‎

‎But the "yellow vests", some of whom who have become increasingly radicalised, are holding out for ‎more. Many are calling on Macron to resign.‎

‎The protesters began blocking roads, fuel depots and shopping centres around France on November ‎‎17 over soaring petrol prices that have hit people in the provinces who get around by car.‎

‎Since then the movement has snowballed into a wider revolt against former investment banker ‎Macron.‎

‎Protests at dozens of schools over university reforms, and a call by farmers for demonstrations next ‎week, have added to a sense of general revolt.‎

‎The hardline CGT union, hoping to capitalise on the movement, has called for rail and metro strikes ‎next Friday to demand immediate wage and pension increases.‎

‎Macron’s decision early in his presidency to slash taxes on France’s wealthiest is particularly ‎unpopular with the protesters.‎

‎Arguing that such a move was necessary in order to boost investment and create jobs, he has so far ‎ruled out re-imposing the "fortune tax".‎

But the policy, along with hikes on pensioners’ taxes, cuts in housing allowances and a string of ‎comments deemed insensitive to ordinary workers, has led critics to label him a "president of the ‎rich".‎

‎Macron had previously vowed to stay the course in his bid to shake up the French economy and not ‎be swayed by mass protests that have forced previous presidents to back down. ‎

‎His U-turn on higher fuel taxes -- which were intended to help France transition to a greener ‎economy -- marks a major departure.

Inp/khan