![Tear gars floats in the air around protesters wearing yellow vests during clashes with French Gendarmes on the Champs-Elysees Avenue as part of a demonstration by the "yellow vests" movement in Paris, France, December 8, 2018. [Photo: VCG]](http://img1.zhytuku.meldingcloud.com/images/zhycms_chinaplus/20181208/99d0965a-143d-4846-9559-2e0ada7c91ad.jpg?x-oss-process=image/resize,w_650)
Paris police have fired tear gas on a group of yellow-vested protesters trying to march on the French presidential palace and are pushing them back with shields.
Crowds of protesters first tried to march down the Champs-Elysees avenue toward the Elysee palace but were prevented by rows of police. So a group of a few hundred took side streets and tried to get past a police barricade, and police fired back with tear gas.
Most of the protesters remain peaceful, and there are no signs so far of the rioting and looting that marked a similar protest last Saturday and prompted fears of greater violence this week.
Crowds were also gathering across town around the Bastille plaza.
Authorities have detained 343 people already Saturday amid exceptional security and filtration measures.
Police are searching people throughout zones of central Paris and confiscating goggles and gas masks from journalists who use them to protect against tear gas while covering demonstrations.
