Protesters re-enact the students' arrest in Mantes-la-Jolie in Strasbourg | Patrick Hertzog/AFP via Getty Images Dozens of Yellow Jacket protesters arrested in France after violent clashes Police used tear gas and water cannons on protesters.

French police made nearly 60 arrests in Paris and dozens more in cities across the country following violent clashes with Yellow Jackets protesters, AFP reported.



The Interior Ministry said that 32,000 people were involved in protests including 8,000 in Paris, a higher number than the 26,000 protesters counted last week, Le Monde reported. The protests against President Emmanuel Macron's government began peacefully, but later descended into confrontations with police.

Officials in the run up to Saturday's protests had vowed a crackdown on the violence that has erupted at demonstrations since November. In Paris, which has become the epicenter of demonstrations over the past weeks, security forces used tear gas and water cannons to prevent protesters from reaching the Champs-Élysées, AFP reported. In the city of Bourges, nearly 5,000 protesters gathered for another major rally.

In response to protests earlier this month, including breaking into a ministry, French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe on Monday unveiled new security measures including the creation of a registry of violent protesters, and the deployment of 80,000 security forces across the country this weekend.

"Those who are calling to demonstrate tomorrow know there will be violence, and therefore they are in part responsible," Interior Minister Christophe Castaner said in a Facebook interview Friday with digital news site Brut.

Many of Paris' central districts were again on lockdown in anticipation of the protests which have once again gained momentum following the holidays. But the demonstrations were not the only violent event rocking Paris Saturday. A gas explosion near the city center earlier in the day killed three and injured around fifty people, according to Le Monde.