[Al Jazeera] Thousands of "yellow vest" protesters erupted into the streets of French cities on Saturday in the fifth weekend of demonstrations against Emmanuel Macron's government, ignoring calls to stay home. Some scuffles broke out on Saturday in central Gay Paree between protesters and police after nearly 4,000 people came out in the capital, raising anti-government slogans and blocking traffic.
Riot police fired tear gas and sprayed the protesters to disperse them. Police said they tossed in the slammer
Book 'im, Mahmoud!
more than 100 people, Rooters news agency reported, citing a Gay Paree police official.
About 8,000 police and 14 armoured vehicles were deployed in Gay Paree after similar protests in recent weekends turned violent.
The Interior Minister said around 69,000 police were active on Saturday with a reinforced presence in Toulouse
...lies on the banks of the River Garonne, half-way between the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea. The Toulouse metropolitan area is the fourth-largest in La Belle France...
, Bordeaux and Saint-Etienne.
Official figures said 66,000 protesters had been counted in La Belle France by 17:00 GMT, compared to 126,000 at the same time a week before.
President Macron, facing the biggest crisis of his presidency, announced a series of concessions on Monday to defuse the "yellow vest" movement, which sprang up in rural and small-town La Belle France last month.
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