Yellow Vests denounce police violence amid sporadic clashes

For their 12th weekend of protests, the Yellow Vests chose to highlight police violence during demonstrations all over France. At least 10,000 protesters gathered in Paris where tensions were reported at the Place de la Republique. Some 5,000 protesters were reported in Valence, southern France.

French Yellow Vests protestors stand behind a banner with images showing people who were injured by police over the past two months, Paris on 2 February, 2019. Reuters/Philippe Wojazer

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France's Yellow Vests were out on the streets for a twelfth consecutive Saturday.

More than 13,000 protestors demonstrated in Paris, according to independent firm Occurence.

Several thousands more were reported in Toulouse, south-west France, and around 5,000 in Valence, according to French news agency AFP.

The protests were largely calm, with tensions at Paris' Place de la République late afternoon.

Injured lead march in Paris

This time, the national anti-government protests aimed to condemn the use of controversial non-lethal munitions that have been linked to several serious injuries over the past two months.

Some of the protesters injured by riot police were on the frontlines of Saturday's march in Paris.

Jerome Rodrigues, an organiser with France's Yellow Vest movement, was injured in his eye at the Bastille area in Paris, 26 January 2019. Reuters/Philippe Wojazer

"It is a march in their honour, you must come disguised as an injured person with a bandage, plasters, fake blood," Eric Drouet, a figurehead of the Yellow Vests movement, said in a video message.

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The decision to figure the injured on the forefront comes after France’s highest court, the Council of State, rejected calls to suspend the use of controversial non-lethal munitions linked to several Yellow Vest injuries.