Damage from Yellow Vest protest 'catastrophic' after Paris riots

The damage caused in France's capital by Yellow Vest protesters at the weekend was even worse than the previous week, an official from the Paris town hall said Sunday.

"The spectacle that Paris delivered is catastrophic," said Emmanuel Gregoire, who works for Parisian mayor Anne Hidalgo, on French broadcaster France Inter.

"The violence was less radical, but the damage is probably more serious than a week ago," he added.

France's Yellow Vest movement took to the streets en masse on Saturday for the fourth week running, even though the fuel tax rises that sparked their protests have been cancelled.

A total of 125,000 people protested across France, with around 10,000 in Paris alone, the Interior Ministry said.

French security forces arrested 1,723 people across the country during the demonstrations.

Police deployed tear gas and water cannons against the protesters. In Paris, rioters set fire to cars and tried to erect barricades. Local media put the number of injured at 264, including 39 members of the security forces.

President Emmanuel Macron's government was able to claim a partial victory, as a major police mobilization helped avoid the running battles that marred protests in Paris last week.

But Gregoire said more parts of the city were affected by the violence than before, as the protest was more spread out across the metropolis.

He said Paris could not continue to face this type of danger once a week, and that the government and Macron needed to deliver answers now in order to stop the crisis.

Macron was expected to address the nation early in the week after not saying anything about the protests for several days. Prime Minister Edouard Philippe said the president would propose measures to "nurture" dialogue.