1,000 arrested as clashes again explode in Paris

PARIS — The rumble of armored police trucks and the hiss of tear gas filled central Paris on Saturday, as French riot police fought to contain thousands of yellowvested protesters venting their anger against the government in a movement that has grown more violent by the week.

A ring of steel surrounded the president’s Elysee Palace — a key destination for the protesters — as police stationed trucks and reinforced metal barriers throughout the neighborhood.

Saturday’s yellow vest crowd was overwhelmingly male, a mix of those bringing their financial grievances to Paris — the center of France’s government, economy and culture — along with groups of apparently experienced vandals, who tore steadily through some of the city’s wealthiest neighborhoods, smashing and burning.

Police and protesters also clashed in the southern French cities of Marseille and Toulouse.

The government’s plan was to prevent a repeat of the Dec. 2 rioting that damaged the Arc de Triomphe, injured 130 people and tarnished the country’s global image. But although Saturday’s protest in the French capital started out quietly, by nightfall nearly 1,000 people had been taken into custody and 135 people were injured, including 17 police officers, according to Interior Minister Christophe Castaner.

All of the city’s top tourist attractions — including the Eiffel Tower and the Louvre museum — shut down for the day, fearing the kind of damage that had hit the Arc de Triomphe. Subway stations in the city center also closed and the U.S. Embassy warned its citizens to avoid all protest areas.

Amid the melee, President Emmanuel Macron remained invisible and silent, as he has for the four weeks of a movement that started as a protest against a gas tax hike and grew into a rebellion against high taxes, eroding living standards and what many see as his inability to address the concerns of France’s regions and ordinary people. Macron on Wednesday agreed to abandon the fuel tax hike, which aimed to wean France off fossil fuels and uphold the Paris climate agreement. Many economists and scientists say higher fuel taxes are essential to saving the planet from worsening climate change, but that approach hasn’t defused the popular anger.

Elaine Ganley and John Leicester are Associated Press writers.

Chris McGrath / Getty Images “Yellow vest” protesters — named for the fluorescent safety vests that French motorists keep in their cars — gather on the elegant Champs-Elysees near the Arc de Triomphe in Paris.