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The government is taking the situation so seriously that they have ordered a general mobilisation of every police officer nationwide for Saturday including doubling the number of officers in Paris.

Rumours had also circulated on social media of the possibility that Macron has ordered the French military to be present in Paris on Saturday with some posting images and videos of what appear to be armoured personnel carriers being pre-deployed. The planned presence of armoured vehicles, a first since 2005, was later confirmed by the government...

The [US] embassy recommended that Americans and others should avoid the protest areas, “shelter in place if in the areas affected,” and notify family for their safety.

While police have been called on to help quell the expected violence in the French capital, many are showing signs of sympathy to the Yellow Vests and their demands.

The Police Union Vigi Ministère de l’Intérieur has not only expressed support for the Yellow Vest movement but has called on members to go on an indefinite strike starting on Saturday, and join the Yellow Vests...

Vandalism and destruction have also been directed at tax collection offices across the country in recent weeks.

On Tuesday night, a tax office in the commune of Riom in central France was firebombed and only a day before a treasury office in Saint-Andiol, located near Avignon, was also firebombed...

With 67 per cent of the French believing that taxes are “too excessive,” tax collectors say they are now becoming fearful for their safety. In Poitiers last week, 200 tax collector staff were forced to flee the Yellow Vest protestors with one remarking, “The crowd screamed ‘fascists! collaborators!’ What is the next step? The guillotine? The scaffold?”...

In the face of the past violence and expectation of more this weekend, 72 per cent of French still remain supporters of the Yellow Vest movement.