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Police fired tear gas in skirmishes with masked demonstrators in France on the 26th straight weekend of yellow vest protests.

Black-hooded demonstrators on the fringes of a largely peaceful protest hurled bottles and smashed shop windows in Nantes.

Meanwhile in Lyon, police used tear gas to funnel protesters away from the central Place Bellecour.

Over the six months since the grassroots rebellion erupted over the high cost of living and President Emmanuel Macron’s perceived indifference towards the plight of working class France, the movement has been losing momentum.

It is expected Saturday’s low turnout nationwide will be a relief to Mr Macron, two weeks out from the European elections.

The far-right, polling neck-and-neck with Macron's party, is billing the vote as a referendum on his first two years in office.

The prolonged unrest has forced the president into costly policy concessions and put the brakes on his reform timetable, including an overhaul of the pension system this year.

With his authority challenged by the so-called yellow vests, Mr Macron launched his fight back last month, promising after weeks of national debate to cut taxes and apologising for his sometimes sharp tongue.

However, in Nantes on Saturday, protesters said Mr Macron's proposals did not go far enough and lacked detail.

"The 'grand debate' was a smoke screen. Today they're smoking us out with tear gas," said one 43-year-old protester who identified himself as Mickael. "But we won't cave in. Yes we're fewer than at the start, but when the others come back, we'll still be here and we'll still be angry."

Saturday's protest in Paris, which has seen some of the worst street violence in decades during the "yellow vest" uprising, was calm.

In driving rain, protesters marched under umbrellas, waving placards reading "Macron, clear off".

Protester numbers have dwindled from highs of over 300,000 nationwide at the peak in November to below 30,000 in recent weeks, according to government estimates.