The French government said on Monday that it would replace the under-fire head of police in Paris following another weekend of riots that saw shops and restaurants torched and looted on the iconic French avenue, the Champs-Elysees.

Prime Minister Edouard Philippe said Michel Delpuech, 66, who has been in the job since April 2017, would be replaced on Wednesday by Didier Lallement, the top police official in the southwest region of Nouvelle-Aquitaine.

Philippe announced several measures designed to prevent a repeat of the scenes on Saturday during protests by so-called “yellow vests” while responding to fierce criticism of police tactics and Interior Minister Christophe Castaner.

Philippe said demonstrations would be forbidden on the Champs-Elysees or other areas of the country if radical protesters, such as anarchists, were seen there.

He also said that police would take a tougher line on people attending unauthorised demonstrations, with fines increased “significantly”.

Business owners on the iconic Champs-Elysees were fuming Monday as President Emmanuel Macron met with Philippe, Castaner and other top officials to weigh their response to an 18th consecutive Saturday of demonstrations.

Some 5000 police were deployed in the capital on Saturday, far outnumbering the several hundred black-clad rioters who caused havoc for more than seven hours on the capital’s most famous boulevard.

TV footage often showed officers standing in formation while the protesters burned and pillaged dozens of stores.

Rioters looted and torched shops and businesses on the famed Champs-Elysees avenue in Paris on Saturday, on the 18th weekend of French “yellow vest” protests, characterised by a sharp increase in violence after weeks of dwindling turnout.

President Emmanuel Macron cut short a skiing trip in the Pyrenees to return to Paris for a crisis meeting, as hooded protesters went on the rampage in Paris, leaving a trail of destruction in the touristic heart of the city.

The police appeared overrun as protesters swarmed the Champs-Elysees, vandalising and later setting fire to Fouquet’s brasserie, a favourite hangout of the rich and famous for the past century — as well as luxury handbag store Longchamp, a bank, another restaurant and several news stands.

French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe, who visited the scene, tweeted, “Today’s actions are not the work of protesters, but of looters, arsonists and criminals. No cause justifies this violence,” he added.

In a statement, the national police denounced the “mindless violence, cowardly attacks” and stressed their determination to guarantee public order against “provocateurs and vandals”.