Police arrested 70 “yellow vest” protesters across France on Saturday as soldiers were deployed to prevent a repeat of rioting in Paris last weekend.

Anti-government demonstrators set fire to dustbins in the French capital, and smashed shop windows and hurled stones at police in the northern city of Lille.

However, the violence was limited compared with the rampage in Paris last Saturday, when more than 100 luxury shops, an exclusive restaurant, a bank and newspaper kiosks were wrecked, looted or set on fire.

This time, police fired tear gas at protesters in Paris, Lille, Lyon in eastern France and Montpellier, in the south.

Protests were banned on the Champs-Elysées and in key areas of Nice, Toulouse and Bordeaux.

Dozens of police vehicles including armoured lorries and water cannons encircled the Arc de Triomphe at the top of the Champs-Elysées, Paris’s grandest avenue.

Officers searched protesters and patrolled in front of boarded-up shops as helicopters and drones monitored the movements of demonstrators.

About 6,000 police officers were deployed in Paris, with troops guarding sensitive sites.

The government views the potential escalation of civil unrest as a serious risk and vowed after last Saturday that there would be “zero tolerance” for further violence or looting.