There were more violent clashes in France on Saturday as the Yellow Vest protest movement entered its thirteenth week.

The numbers were down again this weekend estimations of the participation vary from 50 to more than 100 thousand but the confrontations were intense. One protestor lost four fingers witnesses said he’d tried to handle a sting-ball grenade thrown by police.

In the south of France police blocked yellow vest leader Maxime Nicolle from crossing into Italy to join forces with Italian demonstrators.

“The governments of France and Italy have their differences,” he said. “But between the French people and the Italian people there is no problem.”

However he distanced himself from the support of Italian deputy prime minister Luigi Di Maio, saying politicians were backing a movement about which they know nothing.