French police clashed with protesters in Nantes during Act 44 of the yellow vest movement that first appeared in November 2018. There were at least 35 arrests in the western French city, police confirmed to AFP.
Roughly 1,800 people protested in Nantes, police said, and clashes resulted in several injured.
Police and protesters clashed in Nantes last month during a demonstration honouring a young man who drowned in the city after local police tried to shut down a concert held by the riverbank.
Some invoked the young man’s name during protests on Saturday, holdings signs that read “Justice for Steve”. One woman held a sign that read: “In France, we mutilate. In France, we drown.”
Many protesters chanted about police violence.
Some protesters carried umbrellas in what many have called a tribute to the protests in Hong Kong, where the umbrella has long been a symbol of the pro-democracy movement there.
Police said they seized 100 umbrellas and later said that Black Bloc protesters had used umbrellas to change clothes. Police also said they seized handmade mortars.
In the east of France, 700 people demonstrated in Nancy demanding that French President Emmanuel Macron leave his post. Police in the town also used tear gas against protesters, AFP reported.
Five hundred protesters marched in Paris, and around 400 gathered in Lyon, according to the regional prefecture.