Paris clean-up begins after 'yellow vest' protest which saw more than 1,000 arrested

Monuments and shops have reopened in Paris while cleaners were out on the streets after a new wave of protests and riots injured 71 people in the French capital and caused widespread damage.

President Emmanuel Macron broke his silence to tweet appreciation for the police, but pressure mounted on Sunday on him to propose new solutions to calm the anger dividing France.

The number of injured in Paris and nationwide was down on Saturday from protest riots a week ago.

Police officers clash with demonstrators in Lyon Credit: Laurent Cipriani/AP

But France’s exceptional police deployment failed to deter determined protesters.

Some 125,000 took to the streets on Saturday around France with a bevy of demands.

France’s Interior Ministry said 1,220 people were taken into custody around France during the latest yellow vest protests, a round-up the scale of which the country has not seen in years.

Demonstrators run away to avoid tear gas in Paris Credit: Rafael Yaghobzadeh/AP

Police frisked protesters on Saturday at railway stations around the country, confiscating everything from heavy metal petanque balls to tennis rackets, anything that could remotely be used as a weapon.

The Eiffel Tower and Louvre Museum reopened on Sunday after closing amid Saturday’s rioting.

Fierce winds and rain pummelled Paris overnight, complicating the effort to clean up tear gas canisters and debris left by protesters’ fires and looting.