Police in Paris arrested more than 100 people as protests to mark the first anniversary of the anti-government yellow vest movement turned violent.
Yellow vest (gilets jaunes) rallies took place nationwide on Saturday, a year after they first erupted.
Tear gas and water cannon were used by police in Paris, where thousands of protesters thronged the streets.
Rioters unleashed some of the worst violence the city has seen in months.
With many clad in black and wearing masks to hide their faces, rioters in parts of the city burned barricades, vandalised banks, set rubbish bins on fire and hurled cobblestones at police.
By Saturday evening, Paris police said 147 people had been arrested across the capital.
The nationwide protests were intended to send a message to French President Emmanuel Macron, whose government has been accused of ignoring the needs of ordinary citizens.
The protests first erupted in November last year over fuel price rises, but grew to cover wider grievances, including stagnating wages, living costs and economic inequality.
Mr Macron attempted to quell the protests with promises of tax cuts, higher pensions and reforms, but many still feel he has not done enough.
"We're here even if Macron doesn't like it," demonstrators chanted as they marched through Paris on Saturday.
Yellow Vest- protests in France...
France is experiencing social unrest it has not experienced for generations. The country famous for its revolutions and protests has been rocked by a serious of nationwide, violent demonstrations. Hundreds of thousands of people have taken to the streets for the past four weekends and have brought chaos to businesses, transport and the French economy. The protests are being led by the Yellow Vests Movement, so called because protestors don high-visibility yellow jackets usually worn by the emergency services. The protests are motivated by rising fuel prices, the high cost of living, and claims that an unequal burden of new tax reforms were falling on the working and middle classes.
France's President Emmanuel Macron has declared "a state of social and economic emergency". The violence has caused over a billion dollars in damages so far. This figure is set to rise as more demos are planned. Paris has suffered the brunt of the protests and authorities are closing famous sites like the Eiffel Tower and the Louvre. To quell public anger, Mr Macron has promised to cancel his proposed rise in fuel prices, deliver tax relief for the poor and cancel a tax on retired people. He called for the havoc and mayhem to end and for calm and order to return. He said: "No anger justifies attacking a police officer...or damaging a shop or public building. When violence is unleashed, freedom ends."
For more information, check on this site from the BBC:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/resources/idt-sh/yellow_vests
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