Yellow vest protests hit with police water cannon, tear gas in Paris

Around the 19th-century Arc de Triomphe at the top of the Champs Elysees boulevard, riot police fired water cannon and tear gas at militant protesters after being pelted with stones and paint, witnesses said.

Protesters wearing yellow vests help a person injured by a water cannon during a demonstration by the "yellow vests" movement near the Arc de Triomphe in Paris. (Reuters) — Protesters wearing yellow vests help a person injured by a water cannon during a demonstration by the “yellow vests” movement near the Arc de Triomphe in Paris. (Reuters)

Paris police fired water cannon and tear gas to push back “yellow vest” demonstrators from around the Arc de Triomphe monument on Saturday, in the ninth straight weekend of protests against French President Emmanuel Macron’s economic reforms.

Thousands of protesters in Paris marched noisily but mostly peacefully through the Grands Boulevards shopping area in northern Paris, close to where a massive gas explosion in a bakery killed two firefighters and a Spanish tourist and injured nearly 50 people early on Saturday.

But small groups of demonstrators broke away from the designated route and threw bottles and other projectiles at the police.

Around the 19th-century Arc de Triomphe at the top of the Champs Elysees boulevard, riot police fired water cannon and tear gas at militant protesters after being pelted with stones and paint, witnesses said.

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Clashes erupt as France's 'yellow vests' stage fresh protests

Police use tear gas grenades and water cannons near the Arc de Triomphe to dispel yellow vest protesters who are staging fresh protests in Paris against French President Emmanuel Macron.