Tear gas and water cannons deployed in France as over 400,000 protesters take to the streets and 135 arrested
An extra 70,000 officers were drafted in to tackle the unrest on Saturday
Tear gas and water cannons have been deployed during ongoing protests in France where 135 people have been arrested.
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The country's interior ministry estimates 410,000 people took part in nationwide demonstrations in response to cost of living and public services cuts.
Demonstrators gathered in Paris and tear gas was thrown as demonstrators in Lyon this afternoon, under the watch of 70,000 police officers who were drafted in to prevent a repeat of riots and looting that rocked the country last weekend.
The nation's interior minister Laurent Nunez said 135 people had been arrested nationwide by early afternoon, many following pre-emptive searches that uncovered fireworks and other items that could be used as weapons.
Police fired tear gas at crowds in Lyon, its third-largest city, as police forces deployed an extra 10,000 officers to the city last week.
Read more: 'We are ready': France says 70,000 security forces will be deployed for Saturday protest
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Masked protesters have been seen preparing a barricade in Marseille and Bordeaux.
Groups including France's main student union, UNEF, and the Yellow Vest movement, which emerged as a powerful anti-establishment force in 2018, planned to march through central Paris.
Groups of protesters have gathered at 100 locations, and the route for Paris' main demonstration was settled only after a legal battle triggered by a last-minute police order moving people away from the city centre towards the fringes.
Partial curfews were imposed by Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu on Monday in an attempt to curb the violent riots and looting.
Earlier on Saturday, shopkeepers boarded up storefronts, museums closed their doors, and more than 20 metro stations shut early.
In Marseille, demonstrators gathered at Les Réformés for an authorised trade union march towards Porte d'Aix, following an agreement between organisers and the prefecture.
Public transport services have been affected by security arrangements, including the suspension of tram line T2 and changes to several bus routes.
Far-left wing politician Jean-Luc Melenchon was also seen joining the protest in Paris today, where police have stated all is calm so far.
In a post on X, the prefecture says their forces are "on the ground and in the air, in order to allow the demonstrators to march safely from the Porte d’Italie to the Porte de Vincennes via the boulevards des Maréchaux".
Mr Nunez said earlier: "We have to be ultra, ultra responsive. We have significant calls for disruption from political groups and quite simply from criminals.
"It is going to be a long day."
A Rolex retailer and a De Beers store near the capital's famous Place Vendome will remain closed on Saturday, staff said, while managers at stores including Richemont-owned watch company CFR.S IWC said they would decide whether to close early depending on the intensity of the protests.
But staff at LVMH brands Louis Vuitton, Dior and Bulgari said they weren't taking any chances and security at their stores near Place Vendome had been increased for the day.
Additional private security to supplement the police presence in the neighbourhood is also planned.
The first authorised march on Saturday passed off peacefully in Orléans, around 120 km (75 miles) south of Paris, where demonstrators rallied against Marine Le Pen's far-right National Rally as it held a party congress in the city.
Tensions were heightened by a shooting west of Paris on Friday in which a gunman suspected of acting out of Islamophobic hatred killed one person and wounded four others, including a 12-year-old girl.
Earlier, the Marseille Administrative Court partially overturned the prefecture's wider demonstration ban, allowing gatherings in Gardanne, Istres, Martigues, Miramas and Tarascon.
Protests are also taking place in Bordeaux in the south-west of the country, and in Strasbourg in the north-east.
Earlier this week, Emmanuel Macron pledged to help young people build a “desirable future”, after days of violent protests across France.
The President also met with student representatives on Friday.
Despite the talks, student organisations have maintained their demands for improvements to education and university admissions.