PARIS — Police fired tear gas and arrested hundreds of people in Paris on Saturday as the French capital went on lockdown for the latest "yellow vest" protests against President Emmanuel Macron.

Shouts of "Macron, resign" mingled with the tear gas near the famous Champs-Elysees avenue, the scene last Saturday of the worst rioting in Paris for decades.

A forklift truck driver who gave his name as Denis said he was planning, like others, to march on Macron's presidential palace in anger against a leader who they say only looks out for the rich.

"I'm here for my son," said the 30-year-old, who had traveled down to Paris from the Normandy port of Caen.

"I can't let him live in a country where the poor are exploited."

The protests began on Nov. 17 with road blockades against rising fuel prices but have since ballooned into a mass movement against Macron's policies and top-down style of governing.

Coordinated "yellow vest" protests were taking place across the country on Saturday, including on numerous motorways, causing havoc on the national road network.

Prime Minister Edouard Philippe said 481 people had been detained in Paris as police carried out checks on people arriving at train stations and at protest hotspots such as the Champs-Elysees and Bastille monument.

Among them were dozens 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, while top-flight football matches and concerts have been canceled.

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

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

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

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 mobilized for protests nationwide, including 8,000 police in Paris, where a dozen armored vehicles were being deployed for the first time in decades.

Shops around the Champs-Elysees 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 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 to postpone any planned visits.

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." — AFP