French protesters, police clash on yellow vest anniversary

French police detained dozens in Paris on Saturday as fierce clashes broke out in demonstrations marking the first anniversary of the yellow vest protest movement challenging President Emmanuel Macron's policies.

Yellow vest protesters are staging nationwide demonstrations this weekend in a bid to prove their movement is still a force to be reckoned with, a year after the first giant demonstration on November 17, 2018.

Numbers attending the protests and levels of violence have sharply diminished in recent months from the height of the movement, which began on the back of frustration Macron was failing to address the needs of ordinary French.

But Saturday's protests -- which demonstrators called "Act 53" of their weekly gatherings -- marked the first serious clashes for months in central Paris between security forces and demonstrators.

Tensions were focused on the Place d'Italie square in southeast Paris. Police wielding shields and truncheons flooded the area in a cloud of tear gas and used water cannon after stones were thrown, rubbish bins set on fire and an overturned car put ablaze, AFP correspondents said.

A major shopping centre in the area closed after its doors and the windows of a neighbouring hotel complex were attacked by dozens of stone-wielding protesters. Officers had arrested a total of 105 people across the city by the late afternoon, Paris police said.

Earlier in the afternoon, Paris police chief Didier Lallement had banned the Place d'Italie demonstration, condemning the "the damage and the systematic attacks against the security forces and the fire brigade".

"We are a bit disappointed that this has descended into violence," said Laurent, 50, who had come to Paris from Meurthe-et-Moselle in the east of France to mark the first anniversary. "We are going to look for a quieter place."