French "yellow vest" demonstrators began their 19th consecutive weekend of protests against President Emmanuel Macron's government on Saturday as military units were deployed to help police clamp down on any trouble.
Protesters were banned from gathering on the Champs Elysees in Paris after shops and businesses on the avenue were looted and wrecked last weekend, leading the government to call in "Operation Sentinelle" army units for this weekend.
Demonstrators began marching in the capital on Saturday along a new route taking them from Denfert Rochereau in southern Paris with the aim of finishing by Barbes, near the Sacre Coeur church in northern Paris.
aris police said 31 people have been arrested and 15 protesters were fined for being in the banned area, out of 2,322 controls in the streets of the capital.
In Nice, police dispersed a few hundred protesters who gathered on a central plaza. The city was placed under high security measures as Chinese President Xi Jinping was expected to stay overnight on Sunday as part of a state visit to France.
The new Paris police chief, Didier Lallement, who took charge following last week's protests, said specific police units have been created to react faster to any violence.
About 6,000 police officers are deployed in the capital and two drones are helping to monitor the demonstrations.
Authorities also deployed soldiers to protect sensitive sites and allow police forces to focus on maintaining order during the protests.
President Emmanuel Macron on Friday dismissed criticism from opposition leaders regarding the involvement of the military.
"Those trying to scare people, or to scare themselves, are wrong," he said in Brussels.
Christelle Camus, a yellow vest from a southern suburb of Paris who came to the Trocadero gathering, said the use of soldiers to help ensure security is "a great nonsense."
"Since when do soldiers face a population? We are here in France. You would say that we are here in (North) Korea or in China. I never saw something like this," she said.
The French government announced new security measures this week and replaced the Paris police chief with Lallement following riots on the Champs-Elysees that left luxury stores ransacked and charred from arson fires.
Last week's surge in violence came as the 4-month-old anti-government movement has been dwindling.
The protests started in November to oppose fuel tax hikes but have expanded into a broader rejection of Macron's economic policies, which protesters say favor businesses and the wealthy over ordinary French workers.
The yellow vest movement was named after the fluorescent garments that French motorists must carry in their vehicles for emergencies.
