France fuel protests: police fire tear gas at protesters in Paris

French police have used tear gas and water cannon to disperse protests as demonstrators against rising fuel prices converged for the second weekend in Paris.

Clashes broke out on the Champs Elysees despite a police security cordon around sensitive sites in the centre of the city.

Police fired tear gas and used water cannon to disperse protesters in Paris who are angry over rising fuel costs and President Emmanuel Macron's economic policies, the second weekend of "yellow vest" protests that have caused disruption across France.

Some protesters sang the national anthem while others carried signs with slogans saying "Macron, resignation" and "Macron, thief".

For more than a week, protesters clad in the fluorescent yellow jackets that all motorists in France must have in their cars have blocked highways across the country with burning barricades and convoys of slow-moving trucks, obstructing access to fuel depots, shopping centres, and some factories.

They are opposing the taxes Macron introduced last year on diesel and petrol which are designed to encourage people to shift to more environmentally friendly transport. Alongside the tax, the government has offered incentives to buy green or electric vehicles.

Last Saturday, when nearly 300,000 people took part in the first yellow vest demonstrations countrywide, retailers' daily revenue fell 35 percent, according to consumer groups.

The unrest is a dilemma for Macron who casts himself as a champion against climate change but has been derided as out of touch with common folk and is fighting a slump in popularity.

Despite calls for calm from the government, the yellow vest protests have spread to French territories abroad, including the Indian Ocean island of Reunion, where cars were set on fire.

The unrest has left two dead and 606 injured in mainland France, the Interior Ministry said on Thursday.

While the movement, which has no leader, began as a backlash against higher fuel prices, it has tapped into broader frustration at the sense of a squeeze on household spending power under Macron's 18-month-old government.

Since coming to power, Macron has seen off trade union and street demonstrations against his changes to the labor rules and overhauled the heavily indebted state rail operator. Foreign investors have largely cheered his pro-business administration.

But political foes have dismissed him as the "president of the rich" for ending a wealth tax, and voters appear to be growing restless, with the 40-year-old president's popularity slumped at barely 20 percent.