French President Emmanuel Macron condemned protesters who brought central Paris to a halt Saturday amid claims that the far right had infiltrated the march, which turned violent.
A spokesman for the Interior Ministry said two police officers and six other people were injured.
A protest organizer labeled the events a « civil war. »
« The objective was to unite everybody here in Paris. I am disappointed because it wasn’t meant to be like this, » Thierry Paul Valette, one of the organizers, told CNN.
He blamed it on a « small section » of « the extreme left and the extreme right. »
The « yellow vest » protests began as a campaign against rising gas prices and have morphed into a wider demonstration against Macron’s government in recent weeks, spreading as far as France’s Indian Ocean territory of Réunion.
Police said they have mobilized 3,000 officers in Paris to contain 8,000 protesters. A security perimeter was set up in the city center, with government buildings protected.
At a news conference Saturday, French Interior Minister Christophe Castaner blamed the clashes on far-right extremists infiltrating the demonstrations.
« Today, the far right has mobilized, » Castaner told reporters. « The security forces perfectly anticipated this situation. »
He added: « The right to protest cannot go beyond the respect of the fundamental law of our country.
