Hundreds have been detained across France as thousands of security personnel face another day of ‘yellow vest’ protests.

Police fired tear gas canisters and pepper spray at ‘yellow vest’ protesters in central Paris and other parts of France on Saturday during demonstrations against the high cost of living.

Interior Minister Christophe Castaner added that 125,000 “yellow vest” protesters had turned out to demonstrate around France on Saturday. Police detained 1,385 of them after they found weapons such as hammers, baseball bats and metal petanque balls on them. About 89,000 police officers were on duty on Saturday.

French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe called on Saturday evening for fresh dialogue with representatives of the “yellow vest” movement staging protests across France, promising the government would address concerns over rising living costs.

“The dialogue has begun and it must continue,” Philippe said in a televised statement. “The president will speak, and will propose measures that will feed this dialogue.”

Philippe on Friday evening met a delegation of self-described “moderate” yellow vest protesters who have urged people not to join the protests.

Some 8,000 police officers have been deployed in the capital city to avoid a repeat of last Saturday’s mayhem, when rioters torched cars and looted shops off the Champs Elysees boulevard, and defaced the Arc de Triomphe monument with graffiti directed at President Emmanuel Macron.

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The Eiffel Tower and other tourist landmarks in Paris were shut on Saturday, shops were boarded up to avoid looting and street furniture removed to prevent metal bars from being used as projectiles.

Macron’s government has warned that the protests will be hijacked by “radicalised and rebellious” crowds and become the most dangerous yet, after three weeks of demonstrations.

The president had announced earlier this week that the planned hikes in petrol and diesel taxes, which sparked the protests, would be cancelled outright.

But prominent protesters have said they will descend on Paris anyway, with a broader set of economic demands, including lower taxes, higher salaries, cheaper energy costs, better retirement provisions and even Macron’s resignation.

Thousands of security personnel were deployed in Paris on Saturday [Stephane Mahe/Reuters]

Protesters, using social media, have billed the weekend as “Act IV” in a dramatic challenge to Macron and his government’s policies.

Castaner said that he expected radical elements to be present in Paris and that “the past three weeks have given birth to a monster that has escaped its creators”.

But protesters believe they are fighting for a fair cause.

“There is a rising of the people’s rage and it’s caused by a single reason – the government’s policies that only look to take from the poor to keep for the rich,” Taha Bouhafs, an activist in Paris, told Al Jazeera.

This grassroots movement made President Macron suspend a fuel tax increase. Here's what you need to know about France's "yellow vest" protests. pic.twitter.com/ut4u3dQLxz — AJ+ (@ajplus) December 7, 2018

Violence and anarchy

Authorities say the protests have been hijacked by far-right and anarchist elements bent on violence and stirring up social unrest, in a direct affront to Macron and the security forces.

An Elysee official has said intelligence suggested that some protesters would come to the capital “to vandalise and to kill”.

The United States’ embassy has issued an advisory to Americans in Paris to “keep a low profile and avoid crowds”, while Belgium, Portugal and the Czech Republic advised citizens planning to visit the capital over the weekend to postpone their visit.

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Eric Drouet, one of the initiators of the protests, called on people to protest on the roads and motorways surrounding Paris, “where there is nothing to break and nothing to destroy” but where they can “shout out” their anger.

Macron, who has not spoken in public since he condemned last Saturday’s disturbances while at the G20 summit in Argentina, will address the nation early next week, his office said.

On Friday evening, he visited a group of police officers in their barracks outside Paris.

Navigating his biggest crisis since being elected 18 months ago, Macron has left it largely to Philippe to deal in public with the turmoil and offer concessions. But he is under pressure to speak more as his administration tries to regain the initiative following three weeks of unrest that are the worst since the 1968 student riots.

The French retail federation on Friday put the cost of the protests to its members at close to $1bn, according to the Financial Times.