"Yellow vest" protestors confront police at the Champs-Elysees Avenue in Paris, France on Nov. 24, 2018. For a week, "yellow vests" protestors have blocked highways across French cities with burning barricades and slow-moving trucks, obstructing the access to fuel depots, shopping centers and some factories. (Xinhua/Han Bing)
PARIS, Nov. 24 (Xinhua) -- A new round of "Yellow Vests" movement in Paris on Saturday was marred by violence after several hundred people had converged to the Champs-Elysees defying a police ban on protests in the capital's main avenue.
A group of protesters removed the cobblestones from the streets and took down constructions barriers to form barricades while trying to move to the Place de la Concorde, which is close to the National Assembly and the Elysee Palace.
Police fired tear gas and used water cannon to disperse the crowd.
One person was arrested following the standoff, Paris prefecture said, adding that hundreds of far-right extremists infiltrated the demonstration.
Some protesters, waving tricolor flags, sang the national anthem while others chanted "Macron, resign."
Authorities have permitted a gathering next to the Eiffel Tower on Saturday but rejected requests for a demonstration on the Place de la Concorde, for fear of escalating violence.
In this second round the social action, 8,000 of angry motorists and discontented citizens flocked to the French capital protest against President Emmanuel Macron's plan to introduce high tax on fuel, the most commonly used car fuel in France, Interior Minister Christophe Castaner said.
The movement is experiencing "a strong weakening", said Castaner, adding that 23,000 people took part in the protests across the country at midday, compared with 124,000 reported for the same period last week.
Last Saturday the "Yellow Vests" anti-Macron social movement, which got its name from the high visibility vests drivers keep in their cars, drew about 288,000 protesters who blocked roads across France.
