PARIS—The French government plans to deploy armored vehicles and 89,000 police officers across the country as it prepares for what authorities fear will be another weekend of riots and violence.

Protesters wearing yellow vests—or gilets jaunes—are planning to take to the streets for a fourth consecutive weekend. French officials are scrambling to avoid a repeat of last Saturday’s riots that left hundreds wounded and plunged Paris in havoc.

The rise of the gilets jaunes represents the most serious threat to President Emmanuel Macron’s agenda to overhaul France’s economy. With the Christmas shopping season getting under way, the weekend is shaping up as a potential make-or-break moment for both Mr. Macron and the movement.

The demonstrators originally came out in opposition to the government’s plans to raise fuel taxes, but the protests have morphed into a broader campaign against the government’s pro-business agenda. Earlier this week, the government decided to delay the new levies, but that has done little to quell the dissent

“Faced with organized, systematic violence, our police forces will respond with a strong hand,” said Interior Minister Christophe Castaner during a press conference in Paris, adding “radicals” were expected to join the protests in Paris.