Thousands of protesters torched cars and pelted police with stones and bottles and police fired tear gas and water cannon in Paris on Saturday as rallies to mark the first anniversary of the anti-government “yellow vest” demonstrations erupted into violence.
According to interior ministry, a total of 28,000 people demonstrated across France, including 4,700 in Paris.
Clashes erupted between demonstrators and police near the Porte de Champerret, close to the Arc de Triomphe, as protesters prepared to march across town towards Gare d’Austerlitz.
In Paris, police took 124 people in for questioning and 78 people were in custody , the authorities said.
Demonstrators, many clad in black and hiding their faces, vandalized an HSBC bank branch at the Place d’Italie. They set trash bins on fire, hurled cobblestones and bottles at riot police, and erected barricades.
In other cities, yellow vest demonstrations were largely peaceful, with 1,000 people marching in Marseille in southern France.
In November, tens of thousands of people took to streets of Paris and other French cities to protest against domestic violence, after more than 130 women are believed to have been killed by their partner or ex-partner in France this year.
The march, which covered the main avenues in Paris, also had the support of most national unions and leftist parties, with famous faces, such as actresses Léa Drucker and Julie Gayet, and Vincent Trintignant the brother of actress Marie Trintignant who was beaten to death by her partner in 2003.
The crisis forced President Emmanuel Macron to make policy concessions and delay the next wave of reforms, including overhauling the pension and unemployment systems.
The yellow vest protests, named for the high-visibility jackets worn by demonstrators, erupted in November 2018 over fuel price hikes and the high cost of living. The demonstrations spiraled into a broader movement against President Emmanuel Macron and his economic reforms.