Gilets Jaunes again banned from Champs-Elysées

Gilets jaunes protestors have been banned from protesting on the Champs-Elysées for the second weekend in a row, Interior Minister Christophe Castener has said.

The decision follows numerous incidents of violence on the famous street in the capital during previous gilets jaunes protests over 19 weekends to date. Last Saturday protests were banned on the street for the first time. Demonstrators marched instead from Denfert Rochereau to Montmartre.

"The request for a demonstration on the Champs-Elysees next Saturday [March 30] is an incitement to further violence. I gave the [Paris] police chief very specific instructions to ban [the rally]", Mr Castaner tweeted.

According to Interior Ministry figures, almost 4,000 people have been injured in protests since the beginning of the movement.

The demonstrations started in France in mid-November in protests against planned fuel taxes rises.

They prompted the government abandoned its plans to raise fuel taxes and launch a three-month long national consultation known as the Grand débat, but protestors continue to take to the streets every weekend to express their discontent with the policies of President Emmanuel Macron's government.