After the surge in fuel prices in France, the so-called Yellow Vests movement has held protests, calling firstly on the government to lower the prices, and then also on French President Emmanuel Macron to resign. On Wednesday, the French National Assembly approved a moratorium on the planned fuel price hike.

The French labour union Vigi has called on its members working in the national police and in the Ministry of the Interior to start an indefinite strike on Saturday, joining the Yellow Vests movement. The statement was placed on Vigi's Facebook page on Wednesday.

"The demands made by the Yellow Vests movement related to all of us. The time to organize legally and express solidarity with them for the benefit of all has come", Vigi's post reads.

"We are being perceived as mercenaries, given bonuses for overtime work, but they cannot compensate for the decisions made by the government", Vigi's statement reads.

The call is directed at "administrative, technical, scientific and state workers/cooks from the Ministry of the Interior", according to the statement.

READ MORE: French Extremists Destabilizing 'Yellow Vests' to Prolong Chaos – Activist

"Act IV" of the Yellow Vests' protests, which is to start on Saturday, will make the government take precautions, as during the previous "Act III", more than 260 people, including some 80 police, were injured. Earlier, French Interior Minister Christophe Castaner announced that he would reinforce security for next Saturday.

Michel Thooris, the head of the France Police labour union, said that the French government had failed to implement security measures in Paris, noting that "a majority of the French continue to back the movement". She also highlighted that using the armed forces against civilians would indicate that France is heading towards a civil war.

READ MORE: WATCH Policemen in France Take off Helmets in Solidarity With Fuel Protesters

The protests, which started as a movement against a hike in fuel prices, turned violent, leading to more than 600 people being injured and at least two deaths. The three-week demonstration forced the French government to drop the fuel tax rise from the 2019 budget.

"The government is ready for dialogue and is showing it because this tax increase has been dropped from the 2019 budget bill", Edouard Philippe, the French prime minister, said on December 5.

READ MORE: France Abandons Fuel Tax Increase After Weeks of Protest </s> Act IV (Act 4), the name given to the fourth weekend of protests in France, is just around the corner and the French government and police authorities are busy preparing in an attempt to keep the violence and destruction down to a minimum.

from an "extreme core of several thousand" coming to the French capital. The French presidency revealed on Wednesday that it fears there will be "major violence" The interior ministry has spoken of the likely presence of the "extreme-right who dream of a revolution and the extreme-left who advocate insurrection". And they are concerned their numbers will be boosted by youths from the poor Paris suburbs, some of whom took advantage of the mayhem to loot stores last weekend, according to police. And then there's the fringes of the yellow vest movement which appears to have become more radicalized in recent weeks. As a result the French PM said "exceptional means" will be devoted to keeping order across the country on Saturday.

A total of 89,000 police officers - up from the initial figure of 656,000 - and law enforcement staff will be deployed across France on Saturday, 8,000 of whom will be in the French capital.

The PM confirmed that 12 armored vehicles from the gendarmes military police will also be deployed to the capital, but the decision whether or not to send them onto the streets will be taken on the day.

"Given what has happened it is absolutely necessary to take all the possible measures to stop the rioters taking hold of this movement," said Jérôme Bonner, a police spokesperson.

In all, some 79 police units, including CRS riot police officers, are set to be mobilised in the capital on Saturday December 8th compared to the 50 who were on the streets last weekend.

And there is a new strategy -- this time police officers have been instructed not just to be mobile but also to directly engage with protesters, meaning that the situation could be even more violent than the riots seen last weekend.

"We are going to try to intervene as quickly as possible at the flash points to arrest the main thugs to try to suffocate the violence," said Denis Jacob from the police union Alternative Police.

The city's police chiefs have promised that officers from all units will be present, including the French Anti-Crime Squad known as the BAC, the territorial brigades and all Paris police station staff will be on duty on Saturday.

Even units not accustomed to carrying out everyday police work, such as the SDLII, which fights illegal immigration, will have 500 officers on the ground.

A crisis unit for police officers confronted with "particularly violent incidents" has been created, according to reports in the French press in order to offer officers legal assistance if necessary.

All emergency services will also be mobilized on Saturday.

Security will also be tight on the French capital's public transport network, with transport police officers stationed at railway stations and Metro stations.

Meanwhile, the capital's transport operator RATP is already planning to divert or suspend dozens of bus lines around the Champs-Élysées, as well as at Porte Maillot near Neuilly-sur-Seine in the western suburbs of the capital, Trocadéro, near Opera, Hotel de Ville and Gare du North and Gare de l'Est.

French President Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday urged politicians and union officials to launch a "call for calm", with French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe echoing that call in parliament and urged politicians to be responsible. "What is at stake is the safety of the French people and our institutions. I call here for responsibility," said Philippe. "All the actors in this public debate, politicians, union leaders, editorialists and citizens, will be accountable for their statements in the coming days," he added. In a move they hoped would help appease protesters the government announced it was completely scrapping the planned fuel tax hikes for 2019, yet it appears demonstrators are unsatisfied and are ready to push for more concessions that will help boost their spending power. The anxiety of the French authorities is evident in view of the prospect of another day of violence in the heart of the capital which is still under the shock of last weekend's riots. There have been dozens of calls to demonstrate in Paris on social media on Saturday, with many naming the Champs-Elysees -- the scene of riots on December 1st -- as the meeting point. For more information on what the protester's have in store for Paris this weekend CLICK HERE </s> France made the headlines yet again as a wave of an industrial strike was set to hit the European country from Thursday, March 22, onwards. The strikes called across sectors formed the part of the protest against President Emmanuel Macron's reform measures.

As many as seven trade unions appealed to workers in schools, hospitals, public service, air traffic control to carry out the strike while over 140 protests were planned across the country. The protest is expected to culminate at the Bastille monument in Paris where 25,000 demonstrators could gather to make their voices heard.

Besides, railway staff members would also join the Thursday demonstration before flagging off their strikes on two days out of every five between April 3 and June 28 till the time President Macron retreats with his reform plans. The railway strikes are expected to cause massive inconvenience to the commuters since a large number of trains would be cancelled.

Services in schools, hospitals and libraries would also be affected by the strikes while one-third of flights moving in and out of Paris's airports would remain cancelled because the air traffic controllers would remain off duty because of the strike.

A separate strike by the staff of Air France is also on the cards on Friday, March 23, seeking a six per cent salary rise. They have also planned another strike on March 30, AFP reported.

The strikers feel that the pay is not at par with the inflation while President Macron has been accused of ruining the public sector. The reforms would trigger the beginning of the end of the social model, they said.

Macron, who came to power last year with a decisive win over the right-wing Marine Le Pen, vowed to cut 1,20,000 public jobs by 2022 and his government's emphasis on pay on merit rather than experience was perceived by the unions as an attack on people's job security.

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The French police union Vigi calls on police officers to begin an indefinite strike on December 8 and join anti-government protesters, noting that "a majority of the French continue to back the movement".