PARIS (BLOOMBERG) – Towns around France braced for the 24th Saturday of Yellow Vest protests in the first test of whether President Emmanuel Macron’s latest policy announcements will succeed in ending months of unrest.

Police prepared for a large turnout in Strasbourg after Yellow Vest organisers urged people from other countries to join the protest in the city that’s home to the European Parliament.

In Paris, police closed off streets to traffic around the Elysee Palace and banned Yellow Vests from gathering on the Champs Elysees, a focal point for violence and destruction in previous demonstrations.

Paris authorities warned there could be disruption at planned gatherings and marches on the left bank south of the Seine and at Place de La Republique in the east of the city.

The latest protests come after Macron presented a host of new policies in an effort to show he will respond to the Yellow Vests and the concerns French people have voiced during almost three months of public debates in town halls around the country.

While Macron stopped short of agreeing to some of the more radical demands, he pledged a “new act” for his presidency with modifications of policies in areas from tax to education and France’s democratic system.

The stakes are high for Macron as the new measures will hit already stretched public finances and could dilute his pro-business policies. The country’s biggest business lobby Medef said on Friday that Macron’s measures “raise many questions” and that his plans to close some tax breaks for companies would be “totally unacceptable”.

Early surveys show French people are also sceptical. According to a poll by Elabe for BFMTV, 65 per cent of the French who watched or listened to Macron’s policy announcements said they were not convinced.

Junior economy and finance minister Agnes Pannier-Runacher said on Saturday (April 27) that French people will be more convinced once they feel the impact of Macron’s decisions to cut taxes.

“The Yellow Vest movement is relatively weakened today. French people want it to stop,” she said on BFMTV. “What they want is more tax justice so it’s up to us to prove that is what will be done.”

Saturday might not provide a full measure of French people’s view of Macron’s plans. Many Yellow Vests might choose to stay at home and focus their efforts on joining the traditional May 1 labour protests.

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