The Yellow Vests, protesting rising oil prices and deteriorating economic conditions, started to gather on the iconic avenue early Saturday. Scattered clashes are continuing around the city as the protesters seek to reach the presidential palace and demand President Emmanuel Macron's resignation. Like several neighborhoods of Paris, the area is largely locked down, with many stores shuttered for fear of violence. Overall police estimate there are about 8,000 yellow vest protesters in Paris on Saturday, down from last week. Meanwhile the government deployed 8,000 police in the city. The number of people arrested during Saturday's protests rose quickly to 700, according to figures from Laurent Nunez, France's Deputy Interior Minister. Paris police fired water cannons on yellow-vested protesters throwing flares and setting fires in one of the French capital's main shopping districts. French police also used pepper spray against Yellow Vest protesters along the Champs-Elysees. Protesters uprooted trees on one of the neighborhood's 'grands boulevards' and set them on fire, while others hurled flares and other projectiles at rows of riot police.
