PARIS (AFP) - Two officers were hurt in clashes between riot police and masked youths during a May 1 march in Paris on Monday (May 1) that carried extra significance six days before the presidential election run-off.

"Masked individuals threw objects and Molotov cocktails at police" who responded by firing tear gas "and two riot police officers were injured", French authorities said. </s> Police fired tear gas and water cannons at demonstrators in Paris as thousands took to the streets across France to protest over rising fuel taxes and Emmanuel Macron’s presidency.

Tensions have been mounting around the grassroots movement which drew more than a quarter of a million people a week ago to demonstrations from Provence to Normandy and in between. Demonstrators, dubbed ‘yellow jackets’ face riot police during clashes on the Champs-Elysees in Paris, as they protest against fuel tax hikes (Kamil Zihnioglu/AP)

A new wave of protests was launched on Saturday, including beneath the Eiffel Tower.

On the nearby Champs-Elysees, police used water cannons and tear gas to try disperse protesters. Protesters flee as police fire tear gas during clashes on the Champs-Elysees in Paris( Kamil Zihnioglu/AP)

Interior Minister Christophe Castaner had earlier called for calm and threatened tough police measures against unruly crowds.

Paris alone deployed some 3,000 security forces, notably around tourist-frequented areas like the Champs-Elysees, after an unauthorised attempt last week to march on the presidential palace.

Two people have been killed and hundreds of others injured in the week of protests, which are posing a big challenge to Mr Macron.



Authorities are struggling because the movement has no clear leader and has attracted a motley group of people with broadly varying demands.

The protesters call themselves the “yellow jackets” after the hi-vis security vests that drivers are required to keep in their vehicles.

A man caused a dramatic stand-off with police on Friday when he donned a neon vest and brandished an apparent grenade at a supermarket in the western city of Angers. He was later arrested. Fuel tax protesters also took to the streets in Lyon (Laurent Cipriani/AP)

Most of the protesters’ anger is targeted at Mr Macron, a pro-business centrist accused of indifference to the struggles of ordinary people.

The president has defended the fuel taxes as necessary to reduce France’s dependence on fossil fuels, but promised to lay out new plans on Tuesday to make the “energy transition” easier. </s> Police have fired tear gas at protesters on the sidelines of a May Day workers’ march in Paris.

Scores of hooded youths threw Molotov cocktails at security forces who fired back with tear gas during the march on Monday.

The annual march to celebrate workers’ rights this year included calls to block far-right presidential candidate Marine Le Pen from winning the presidency during a run-off election on Sunday.

Video showed riot police surrounding the protesters disrupting the march after isolating most of them from the rest of the crowd near the Place de la Bastille. However, some continued to lob firebombs that exploded into flames in the street.

It was not immediately clear if anyone was injured in the incidents. </s> Clashes have erupted in central Paris between police and demonstrators during May Day protests in the French capital. Protesters pelted Molotov cocktails as police responded with tear gas. Several of the officers caught fire and could be seen engulfed in flames.At least four police officers have been injured in the clashes, AFP reported. At least one officer suffered serious burns.Molotov cocktails have been thrown, police said on Twitter.Tear gas has been deployed by law enforcement to keep the increasingly angry crowd at bay.Fires could be seen burning alongside the road.There has been no information so far on any arrests made.Glass bottles and what may have been gas canisters were thrown at the police, according to RT's reporter from the scene.Police have been blocking routes so the crowds can't move away from a main road.The clashes look set to continue, RT's reporter said, adding that riot police have been prepared to separate two protests, and not let the crowds meet up.On Monday, Parisians gathered in central Paris for a peaceful May Day rally.Demonstrators from French Unions also took to the streets to protest the results of the first round of the French presidential elections, which saw independent candidate Emmanuel Macron being pitted against the right-wing Marine Le Pen in the second round due on May 7. </s> PARIS (AP) — French police fired tear gas and water cannons to disperse demonstrators in Paris on Saturday, as thousands gathered in the capital and staged road blockades across the nation to vent anger against rising fuel taxes and Emmanuel Macron's presidency.

Thousands of police were deployed nationwide to contain the demonstrations, including a tense protest at the foot of the Champs-Elysees where protesters burned barriers and large plywood sheets, wielded placards reading "Death to Taxes" and upturned a large vehicle.

There were no immediate reports of injuries in the clashes, but 18 were detained for various acts including for "throwing projectiles," Paris police told The Associated Press.

"It's going to trigger a civil war and me, like most other citizens, we're all ready," said Benjamin Vrignaud, a 21-year-old protester from Chartres.

The famed avenue was speckled with plumes of smoke and neon — owing to the color of the vests the myriad self-styled "yellow jacket" protesters don. French drivers are required to keep neon security vests in their vehicles.

Authorities said that 5,000 protesters flooded the Champs-Elysees alone, with 23,000 protesters in total nationwide.

Interior Minister Christophe Castaner denounced protesters from the far-right whom he called "rebellious," as he accused the Marine Le Pen, party leader of the National Assembly, of encouraging them.

In a week of demonstrations that has dominated national news coverage, hundreds have been injured and two people were killed in accidents stemming from the protests.

The Interior Ministry played down the scale of Saturday's demonstrations by highlighting that last week's protest comprised more than 100,000 protesters across the country.

The unrest is proving a major challenge for embattled Macron, who's suffering in the polls and the focus of rage for the demonstrators, who accuse the pro-business centrist of indifference to the struggles of ordinary French.

Macron has insisted the fuel tax rises are a necessary pain to reduce France's dependence on fossil fuels and fund renewable energy investments — a cornerstone of his reforms of the nation. He will defend fresh plans to make the "energy transition" easier on Tuesday.

On Saturday, Paris deployed some 3,000 security forces, notably around tourist-frequented areas, after an unauthorized attempt last week to march on the presidential Elysee Palace.

Authorities said protesters have so far not breached a no-go zone set up by authorities around key areas including the presidential palace and the National Assembly on the Left Bank of the Seine River.

But authorities are struggling because the movement has no clear leader and has attracted a motley group of people with broadly varying demands.

A man caused a dramatic standoff with police Friday when he donned a neon vest and brandished an apparent grenade at a supermarket in the western city of Angers. He was later arrested.

Taxes on diesel fuel have gone up seven euro cents (nearly eight U.S. cents) and are to keep climbing in the coming years, Transport Minister Elisabeth Borne has said. The tax on gasoline is to increase 4 euro cents. Gasoline currently costs about 1.64 euros a liter in Paris ($7.06 a gallon), slightly more than diesel.

"When tax is no longer agreed to, it's the start of revolutions in France," far left leader Jean-Luc Melenchon told BFMTV.

Alex Turnbull, Chris Den Hond and Patrick Hermensen contributed to this report. </s> PARIS (AP) – Hundreds of protesters have marched in Marseille against French right-wing presidential candidate Marine Le Pen, ahead of her final rally in the southern port city.

Some ultra-left demonstrators skirmished with police during the Wednesday night protest. Police set off tear gas to disperse them.

Gaspard Flamant says he fears Le Pen will win the election’s first-round vote. The top two candidates will meet in a runoff on May 7.

The 26-year-old says, “We saw Trump, we saw Brexit … so I’m mistrustful.”

A new poll out Wednesday showed Le Pen and centrist Emmanuel Macron sharing first place.

Opponents of Le Pen and her anti-immigration National Front party also skirmished with police outside a Paris rally this week.

A banner held by a far-left protester on Wednesday read: “Far-rightists can’t be fought in the ballot box.” </s> Police fired teared gas and used water cannons Saturday to disperse protestors in Paris who are demonstrating for a second weekend against rising fuel prices.

The so-called “Yellow Jacket” activists, named after the neon vest worn by motorists during roadside emergencies, are calling on French President Emmanuel Macron to step back from planned hike of taxes on gasoline.

While the mass movement focuses on the gas tax, it highlights a broader array of frustrations with Macron. The French president was already struggling with approval scores in the mid-twenties and an underperforming economy before protests began.

His popularity has slipped to a new low, according to an opinion poll published Friday, which found only 26 percent of French people had a favorable opinion of Macron.

The French president is attempting to re-focus frustration with the tax onto rising global oil prices.

Police and government officials are increasingly concerned that far-right and far-left extremists are infiltrating the grassroots protesters, inciting violence.

By early Saturday afternoon, there were about 23,000 protesters across the country, out of which 8,000 in Paris, Le Monde reported.

Around 30,000 people are expected to protest in the French capital alone, Reuters reported.

Some protesters sang the national anthem while others carried signs with slogans saying “Macron, resignation” and “Macron, thief.”

Video footage showed thousands of protesters marching on the Champs-Élysées avenue, with firetrucks rushing to a vehicle demonstrators set on fire.

French Interior Minister Christophe Castaner spoke about a “mobilization of the extreme right” and said that security forces had anticipated the development.

About 280,000 took to the streets last weekend.

Police detained a man wearing an explosive device Friday night in Western France after he demanded that Yellow Jacket activists be given an audience with Macron.

Read this next: Pedro Sánchez: EU summit in doubt if no Gibraltar deal </s> PARIS (AP) — The Latest on protests in France (all times local):

Violent clashes between police and protesters are ongoing in the French capital, with demonstrators angry about rising fuel taxes and President Emmanuel Macron's government.

Protesters burned large plywood sheets and other material in the middle of several streets in central Paris, sending up large columns of smoke. Demonstrators also hurled rocks and other projectiles at police, who responded by firing tear gas and bursts from water cannons.

Police tried to push back the protesters, at times beating back demonstrators with baton strikes and dragging them away.

French Interior Minister Christophe Castaner has accused the far right of encouraging acts of violence and clashes with police in Paris.

Marine Le Pen, the head of the National Assembly party, called on protesters to head to the Champs-Elysees earlier this week despite authorities banning all demonstrations on the avenue.

Castaner's comments came as French police fired tear gas and water cannons to disperse angry demonstrators in Paris, as protests and road blockades, led by drivers opposing rising fuel taxes and Emmanuel Macron's presidency, swept the nation.

Castaner said that 5,000 protesters flooded the Champs-Elysees alone, with 23,000 protesters in total nationwide.

But Castaner told journalists in Paris that the protest was "weakening,"

French police have fired tear gas and water cannons to disperse demonstrators in Paris, as thousands gathered in the capital and staged road blockades across the nation to vent anger against rising fuel taxes and Emmanuel Macron's presidency.

Thousands of police have been deployed nationwide to contain the demonstrations, including a tense protest at the foot of the Champs-Elysees where protesters upturned a large vehicle. Six people have been arrested.

France is deploying thousands of police to try to contain nationwide protests and road blockades by drivers angry over rising fuel taxes and Emmanuel Macron's presidency.

Tensions have been mounting around the grassroots movement that drew more than a quarter million people a week ago to protests across France, from Provence to Normandy and in between.

A new wave of protests is planned Saturday, including beneath the Eiffel Tower. Interior Minister Christophe Castaner called for calm and promised tough police measures against unruly crowds.

Paris alone is deploying some 3,000 security forces, notably around tourist-frequented areas like the Champs-Elysees, after an unauthorized attempt last week to march on the presidential palace.

Two people have been killed and hundreds injured in the week of protests. </s> PARIS (Reuters) - Rioters set fire to a bank and ransacked stores on Paris’s Champs Elysees avenue on Saturday, in a new flare-up of violence as France’s yellow vest protests against President Emmanuel Macron and his pro-business reforms entered a fourth month.

Police fired tear gas and water cannon as the protests turned violent after weeks of relative calm, during which marches had attracted declining numbers of participants.

A Banque Tarneaud branch spewed flames before firefighters arrived and rescued a woman and her infant from the building, with 11 suffering minor injuries, the fire department said.

Rioters also set fire to an upmarket handbag store and two newsstands on the Champs Elysees, while scattered bonfires burned on the thoroughfare.

Protesters hurled cobblestones at riot police through clouds of tear gas in front of the Arc de Triomphe monument, which was ransacked at the peak of the protests in December.

Police arrested nearly 240 protesters as rioters looted stores around the Champs Elysees and wrecked the high-end Fouquet’s restaurant.

The canvas awning was later set on fire of the swanky brasserie, known in France as the place where conservative Nicolas Sarkozy celebrated his presidential election victory in 2007.

Macron cut short a weekend ski trip in the Pyrenees to return to the capital on Saturday night for a crisis meeting with ministers.

“We are attached to constitutional rights, but we’ve got people who through all means quite simply want to make a wreck of the republic, to break things and destroy, running the risk of getting people killed,” Macron said.

“I want us to very precisely analyse things and as quickly as possible take strong, complementary decisions so this doesn’t happen again,” he told ministers.

A protester throws an EU flag into the fire of a burning shop during a demonstration by the "yellow vests" movement in Paris, France, March 16, 2019. REUTERS/Philippe Wojazer

Police said 42 protesters, 17 of their own officers and one firefighter were injured.

The interior ministry estimated 10,000 people had participated in the protest in Paris, compared with 3,000 on the previous Saturday. Nationwide, protesters were estimated at 32,300, compared with 28,600 last week.

ULTRA VIOLENT

Interior Minister Christophe Castaner said that although the protest was relatively small, there had been more than 1,500 “ultra violent” people out looking for trouble.

“They decided, perhaps as a swansong, to come attack - and I use their words - Paris,” Castaner said, adding that more than 1,400 police officers were mobilised.

A separate, peaceful march against climate change through central Paris drew as many 36,000 people, police estimated. Some 145,000 people marched nationwide.

Yellow vest protesters had promised to draw bigger numbers to mark the fourth month since the movement erupted in mid November over since-scrapped fuel tax hikes and the cost of living.

Named after the high-visibility vests French drivers have to keep in their cars and worn by protesters, the revolt swelled into a broader movement against Macron, his reforms and elitism.

However, the weekly demonstrations, held every Saturday in Paris and other cities, have been generally getting smaller since December, when Paris saw some of the worst vandalism and looting in decades.

After the spike in violence, Macron offered a package of concessions worth more than 10 billion euros ($11 billion) aimed at boosting the incomes of the poorest workers and pensioners.

Slideshow (35 Images)

His government ordered police to crack down on the protests in January, leading to complaints of police brutality.

The 41-year-old former investment banker also launched a series of national debates aimed at determining what policies people want the government to focus on. Saturday’s protests coincided with the end of the debates.
Marches in Paris are disrupted as French riot police fire tear gas at violent protesters ahead of the second round of the presidential election.