Yellow vest 'Day of Rage' violence explodes in Paris as rioters torch cars and trash shops


  • Smoke bombs and bricks were hurled at officers in so-called 'Act XVIII' Day of Rage organised by movement  
  • Fighting broke out on Champs Elysee, the most famous avenue in the French capital, with 25 arrests by 11am
  • They have been protesting since November 17 last year and are calling for President Macron to step down 
Violence erupted in Paris today as Yellow Vest protesters calling for French President Emmanuel Macron to resign took to the streets for the eighteenth Saturday in a row.
Teargas and baton charged were used by riot police on a so-called ‘Act XVIII’ Day of Rage organised by the Yellow Vest movement.
Fighting broke out on the Champs Elysee, the most famous avenue in the French capital, by 11am, when there had already been 25 arrests. 


Famed French brasserie restaurant Fouquet's burns on the Champs Elysees avenue during a yellow vests demonstration Saturday, March 16. President Nicolas Sarkozy celebrated his 2007 electoral victory there

A Yellow Vest protester throws a European flag onto a burning pile of chairs on the 18th consecutive Saturday of demonstrations by the protest movement

A masked man holds up a sign (foreground) that reads 'Macron mutilates the Nation; Police and Media corps don't become his accomplice' at a march in Bordeaux, western France




Violence erupted in Paris today as Yellow Vest protesters calling for French President Emmanuel Macron to resign took to the streets for the eighteenth Saturday in a row




Protestors have vandalised many of the cars and restaurant furniture left in the street, including this motorcycle and a forklift truck down a street in central Paris

A fireman tries to put out the flames at the burning luxury store Longchamps on the Champs Elysees during the demonstration

One protester is even pictured on top of the burning debris as it is engulfed by flames. Tear gas was deployed by riot police on a so-called ‘Act XVIII’ Day of Rage organised by the Yellow Vest movement

A police officer at the scene told MailOnline: ‘Fires are being lit, including in cars. Thousands are arriving all over the city, and we are already extremely stretched'


Mounted police, water cannons, and 14 armoured vehicles capable of spreading high-intensity gas were today all on standby as part of the security operation.
They have failed to prevent widespread disorder over the past few weekends, with the worst violence normally coming at nightfall.
The Vests have been joined by extremists from the far Right and the ultra-Left, as well as anarchists intent on causing as much damage as possible.  
Crisis-ridden Mr Macron has not only climbed down on imposing green surcharges, but increased the national minimum wage by seven per sent, and scrapped tax on bonuses.
But the Yellow Vests said their protests would continue indefinitely as they campaign for even more concessions.
The independent Mr Macron, leader of the Republic On The Move party, won the French presidential election in a landslide in 2017, but he is now dubbed the ‘President of the Rich’.