Paris (France) (AFP) – Protesters clashed with police in Paris and other cities in France on Saturday during nationwide rallies over high prices as the country heads towards a presidential election.

Protesters broke into the town hall of France's second-largest city of Marseille before being forced out by police.

In Paris, police fired a water cannon and teargas after hundreds of protesters, most wearing face masks and some setting off fireworks, confronted them at several locations, AFP reporters saw.

The offices of French broadcasters CNews and Europe 1 in western Paris had windows broken when protesters threw projectiles.

Thousands of demonstrators converged for a march through Paris, cutting main roads and prompting authorities to close many metro stations in the centre.

The protests are piling pressure on President Emmanuel Macron's government after weeks of student demonstrations that turned violent at times. There has been public criticism over the police's perceived disproportionate response.

More than 32,000 protesters had taken part in some 140 actions nationwide outside Paris shortly after midday on Saturday, a source at the interior ministry told AFP.

Police detained more than 160 people nationwide, the source said.

The country's Yellow Vest movement, which eight years ago staged street protests against Macron's government over planned fuel tax hikes, had called for the "yellow and youth" demonstrations.

It appealed to teachers and students, workers, pensioners and farmers to take part in the protests on the first day of half-term holidays.

"We're taking the Bastille," one demonstrator shouted in Marseille as masked protesters rammed the door of the mayor's offices with security barriers, in reference to the 1789 storming of a fortress during the French Revolution.

Several then entered, one spray painting an anarchist "A" symbol on an inside wall, before police intervened to disperse them.

"We're here to protest the deplorable resources allocated to education and against police brutality," said Aude, a masked student who did not give her surname.

An AFP photographer also saw some protesters attack a police building in the city.

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