The police prefecture of Paris said more than 300 people were arrested by 9 a.m., The New York Times reported. Protesters chanted for French President Emmanuel Macron to resign, according to the outlet, while social media posts showed police releasing tear gas into the crowd.

{mosads}Tens of thousands of police officers were deployed across the country, including several thousand in Paris, the Times reported. Saturday’s protests mark the fourth weekend of protests.

The protests follow a proposed tax hike that was originally slated to begin in January. French Prime Minister Édouard Philippe announced Tuesday that the government would not implement a tax hike on fuel, stating, “No tax is worth putting the nation’s unity in danger.”

The original demonstrations by the “yellow vest” group began to protest the fuel tax and call for a higher minimum wage, among other demands. The protests, Al Jazeera notes, have grown into a demonstration against wider economic dissatisfaction.

“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 the outlet. 

The Eiffel Tower and other cultural hallmarks were shuttered Saturday in anticipation of the protests.