Clashes, fires and looting break out across France in some of the worst unrest in years

Violent clashes erupted between police and protesters across France as hundreds of thousands of people protested against rising costs and declining public services in some of the country's most destructive unrest in years.

France's interior ministry said at least 272 people had been arrested after violent incidents involving hooded individuals, including in Paris, Marseille in the south, Toulouse in the southwest, Angers in the west and Lyon in east-central France.

Belgium, Portugal and Italy also faced smaller-scale protests on Saturday as living costs rise in Europe, while protesters in Albania again rallied against perceived government corruption, a lack of jobs and poor education standards.

French Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu said the government would not be "intimidated" by violence, and blamed the unrest on the "far-left" and criminals just months before a presidential election next year.

"To those who clearly want to use this violence as a 'warm-up' before the presidential election, I say clearly: We will not let ourselves be intimidated. No one will impose their political agenda through violence," he wrote in a post on X.

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The CGT union told Agence France-Presse news agency that 800,000 people across France had taken part in Saturday's protests. The interior ministry did not give an estimate.

Protesters said most people had marched peacefully, and put much of the violence down to troublemakers who had set out to cause damage and clash with the police.

"We are fighting because the cost of living is too harsh, because the price of fuel is too high, because high school pupils are being violently attacked and hurt all over the country just for trying to protest and ask for more teachers and decent learning conditions," said Lola, a 19-year-old protester in Paris.

In some parts of Paris, police occasionally fired tear gas rounds as they retreated in the face of mostly young protesters, many of whom were dressed in black and wore hoodies, masks and goggles to protect against tear gas.

By late afternoon, protesters reached prominent landmarks in central Paris, including the Champs-Élysées, Concorde and La Madeleine, which had been excluded from the authorised demonstration. On Saturday evening, as the protests wound down, protesters set ablaze objects, including at least one car.

Some tourists at a fashionable department store near the Paris opera were seen spluttering when they were caught in clouds of tear gas, and shops nearby were hastily shuttered. Windows of many shops and restaurants in the capital were smashed, and cars and trash cans were set on fire.

The town hall in the French city of Limoges was "largely lost" to a fire set by masked protesters, according to the top regional official.

"The roof has collapsed onto lower floors, except the west wing, and two-thirds of the exterior has already disappeared," the local prefect, Maurice Barate, said.