Donald Trump is so vain that he really thinks the protests in Paris are about him. As about 8,000 anti-government protesters wearing yellow safety vests dodged tear gas in the French capital on Saturday, the president of the United States fell for a social media hoax, claiming that the demonstrators were chanting his name.

Writing on Twitter, the president claimed, falsely, that the protests had been inspired by his opposition to the Paris climate accord and the phrase “We want Trump” rang out on the streets.

I can't believe I'm having to say this again but literally no one in the streets of Paris is chanting 'We Want Trump' https://t.co/W8gZb0ucgq — Katy Lee (@kjalee) December 8, 2018

Today is the first time Patricia, 23 and her sister Laurence, 33 from the Paris suburbs have demonstrated. They talk about similar themes: Rich getting richer, the need for a president who understands the country, and want a change to help lower middle classes. pic.twitter.com/JD3Se6V0La — The Local France (@TheLocalFrance) December 8, 2018

Laeticia, 32, a supermarket cashier from Picardie, said: "I've got 3 children & I can't see a future for them. We live in misery, with low salaries, constantly overdrawn at the bank. We can't back down now. There has to be a better way to run this country." pic.twitter.com/8ttx9NI1Vc — Angelique Chrisafis (@achrisafis) December 8, 2018

As reporters on the ground in Paris noted on Saturday, beyond widespread calls for President Emmanuel Macron’s resignation, just 18 months after his election, protesters voiced a range of demands from one end of the political spectrum to the other. Some protesters called for support for a borderless European Union, while others demanded Frexit, or a French exit from the bloc.

Photo: Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images

Amid skirmishes between the riot police and violent protesters known as “casseurs,” or “breakers,” which led to more than 700 arrests, there were also calls for non-violence, demands for taxes to be halved and social spending to be doubled, anti-vaccine activists, snatched selfies and eloquently simple slogans scrawled on vests, like one woman who just wrote, “I’m under pressure.”

Intervention des blindés de la gendarmerie sur l’avenue Marceau. Grosses tensions en cours. pic.twitter.com/ZAEb7nPEZs — Jules Bedo (@Julesbdo) December 8, 2018

Les Gilets Jaunes demandent la démission de Macron. L'annulation des taxes sur les carburants ne suffit pas #Paris #8D #PorteMaillot pic.twitter.com/jdBYJjCN5d — Andreina Flores (@andreina) December 8, 2018

Des gilets jaunes se prennent en photo devant un véhicule blindé de la gendarmerie pic.twitter.com/Gzz5LhpeOc — Philippe Randé (@philippe_rande) December 8, 2018

There were also widespread displays of solidarity from protesters with a group of high-school students who were arrested this week in Mantes-la-Jolie, west of Paris, and forced by the police to kneel in the mud with their hands on their heads.

Trump’s false claim that the protesters were inspired by his hatred of the Paris climate agreement was also undermined by the presence of many yellow vests at a climate march in another part of the French capital, where more than 20,000 people demanded action.

Greetings from Paris, non violent protests by the way, great people, love them. #MarchePourLeClimat paris pic.twitter.com/r8KSnUsl5Q — Sascal Pudinger (@sascal_pudinger) December 8, 2018

La Bastille de l'injustice sociale et de la lutte pour le climat est à prendre #GiletsJaunes #climat pic.twitter.com/iECvHL0EJo — Jacques Baudrier (@jacquesbaudrier) December 8, 2018

At the climate march, Stéphane Mandard of Le Monde noted that one of the yellow vests was emblazoned with a slogan that seemed to offer one answer to the two struggles: “Make the rich pay for the environmental transition.”

Jean-Luc Mélenchon, the leader of the radical-left France Unbowed party, attended a climate rally in Bordeaux with members of the yellow vest movement.