PARIS—Antigovernment protests raged across the heart of the French capital Saturday, as demonstrators torched cars and storefronts, mounting one of the most violent clashes in years in defiance of President Emmanuel Macron’s drive to overhaul France’s economy.
The demonstration was a remarkable show of force as protesters took over areas in central Paris where police are heavily concentrated. Manicured avenues were transformed into scenes of pitched battles between police and thousands of “gilets jaunes,” or yellow-vest protesters.
Riot police fired tear gas and stun grenades to push back protesters who stormed the Champs-Élysées and surrounded the Arc de Triomphe, spray-painting “Macron Resign” on the monument and throwing projectiles. Mr. Macron was in Argentina Saturday attending a Group of 20 summit.
“I am not happy with these images,” said Prime Minister Édouard Philippe as networks carried live broadcasts of the clashes. “They shock us.”
The havoc enveloping Champs-Élysées marked the third consecutive weekend of protests across France as the gilets jaunes press Mr. Macron to backtrack on policies that have sparked widespread discontent.
The gilets jaunes movement sprung up in response to Mr. Macron’s proposal to raise taxes on diesel fuel. But it has morphed into a broad antigovernment campaign for those who say Mr. Macron’s policies favor the wealthy and punish the working class.
Polls show that three-quarters of the French public support the yellow vests. Mr. Macron’s approval rating has fallen below 30% as the movement has gathered momentum over the past month.
“Macron taxes people like us,” said Cyril Goursaud, a factory worker from the city of Limoges who traveled to Paris for Saturday’s protests. “Anything to make the rich more rich, he does.”
The tens of thousands that turned out to protest where fewer than the hundreds of thousands that took to the streets when the movement kicked off three weekends ago. The intensity of the protests, however, marked a clear escalation in the gilets jaunes weekly showdown with the government as police arrested at least 224 people on Saturday.
Protesters dominated the streets and airwaves by swarming the Arc de Triomphe and torching cars in the surrounding neighborhoods. Barricades built in the middle of the city’s tree-lined avenues were also set ablaze, sending black plumes above the Parisian skyline.
Emmanuel Riviere, chief executive of research of consulting firm firm Kantar Public France, said the violence was akin to the 2005 riots that ripped through Paris’s blighted suburbs, or banlieues.
“This is spectacular because it is happening in the most prestigious areas of Paris,” Mr. Riviere said.
As police pushed protesters away from the Arc de Triomphe, mayhem spread to other areas. Groups of protesters were seen using shovels to smash storefronts and car windows along Avenue Kléber, one of the French capital’s most upscale streets. Smoke from burning cars soon enveloped the street, and cafes quickly closed.
TV images showed demonstrators occupying a stretch of the Rue de Rivoli that borders the Tuileries Gardens and the Louvre museum, smashing a shop window and setting trash on fire.
Such scenes are likely to test the resolve of Mr. Macron, who has refused to change course, sticking to his fuel-tax increase as well as his pro-business overhaul of France’s economy.
Mr. Macron is able to forge ahead because he has a commanding majority in Parliament. But a handful of lawmakers in his party have begun to publicly question his stance on the fuel tax. Mr. Macron, a former investment banker, is also under pressure to counter opponents who have branded him the “president of the rich.”
—Noemie Bisserbe contributed to this article.
Write to Matthew Dalton at Matthew.Dalton@wsj.com and Stacy Meichtry at stacy.meichtry@wsj.com
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