Two French league soccer matches have been postponed at the request of authorities.

Nice's home game against Saint-Etienne on Friday and Saturday's match between Nantes and Montpellier will be played at a later date.

The French league says the reason for both cancellations is because police forces are being stretched.

However, the league says it may move the match between Nice and Saint-Etienne to Sunday in order to avoid a backlog because both sides had their games postponed last weekend amid security concerns about anti-government protests.

Six matches were postponed last week — also including those featuring Nantes and Montpellier — amid recent demonstrations against fuel tax rises and other grievances.

Those six matches are rescheduled for March 15 and 16.