French "yellow vest" protesters have marched through Paris and other cities in protest against high living costs and the perceived indifference of President Emmanuel Macron.
The street protests began peacefully in the French capital but degenerated later on Saturday afternoon as protesters hurled missiles at riot police barricading bridges over the Seine river and torched garbage bins on the glitzy Boulevard Saint Germain.
Protesters wearing yellow vests take part in a demonstration by the 'yellow vests' movement in Paris, France, January 5, 2019. Source: ABACA
Despite a tense stand-off, the level of violence was far from the levels seen in early December.
Then, rioters ran amok in the city, torching dozens of cars, looting shops in posh neighbourhoods and defacing the Arc de Triomphe.
Officers fired tear gas to prevent hundreds of demonstrators crossing the river and reaching the National Assembly on Saturday.
One riverboat restaurant was set ablaze and a policeman wounded when he was struck by a bicycle hurled from a street above the riverbank.
A burning boat moored next to Orsay Museum is seen during a demonstration by the "yellow vests" movement in Paris, France. Source: AAP
Macron's government began the new year on the offensive, branding the remaining protesters as agitators seeking to overthrow the government.
Police on Wednesday night arrested one of the movement's prominent figures.
Driving the unrest is anger among workers and the lower-middle class over the squeeze on household incomes and a belief that Macron is deaf to citizens' needs as he enacts reforms seen as favouring the wealthy.
Last month, Macron promised tax cuts for pensioners, wage rises for the poorest workers and the scrapping of planned fuel tax increases to quell the unrest at a cost to the Treasury of 10 billion euros ($A16 billion).
