Clashes erupted in Paris as a mass march drew to a close on Saturday with more than 400,000 people rallying across France over school funding and soaring living costs.
The government says that nearly 1,000 arrests have been made.
The Paris march began peacefully, a week after widespread rioting and looting during protests across the country.
But near the demonstration’s endpoint in eastern Paris, masked protesters hurled objects and fireworks at police, who answered with clouds of tear gas, deafening sound grenades and jets of water cannons.
Officers with megaphones urged protesters to disperse. Some demonstrators panicked as tear-gas canisters landed in their midst, scattering with screams.
Clashes have seen police use water cannons and tear gas on protesters Credit: AP
The Interior Ministry put nationwide turnout at 410,000, fewer than the 550,000 it said protested last weekend.
However the CGT union, one of France’s largest trade union federations which helped organize some of Saturday’s protests, estimated turnout at nearly 800,000.
More than a month of unrest that started with protests in high schools for more funding and teachers is testing Macron’s authority in the final months of his presidency before voters choose his successor in May.
The far-right National Rally party has accused Macron’s government of failing to protect the public and urged people to channel their anger into votes for its candidate Marine Le Pen.
On the far left, presidential candidate Jean-Luc Mélenchon has backed demonstrators and criticized policing that has left some teenage protesters with life-changing injuries.
Macron met high school representatives on Friday. They said he had promised to overhaul university admissions, but they called for protests to continue until concrete measures are announced.
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