French police say not all protesters are part of the so-called Yellow Vest protest movement.
Photographer: Alain Jocard/AFP via Getty Images
Dozens of shops on one of Paris’s most iconic avenues were damaged March 16 in protests by the so-called Yellow Vests. It was the 18th Saturday of disturbance in the French capital. President Emmanuel Macron vowed on Twitter that “strong decisions” were coming to prevent more violence. He said some individuals -- dubbed “black blocs” by French police forces -- were taking advantage of the protests to “damage the Republic, to break, to destroy.”
An estimated 14,500 people took part on Saturday in protests across France, around double that of a week ago, according to AFP. Some 200 people were taken into custody, BFM TV said. Shops were reportedly damaged along the Champs Elysees, the broad avenue which leads to the Arc de Triomphe.