The most violent urban riots in a decade engulfed the French capital on Saturday, as "yellow jacket" protesters torched cars, smashed windows, looted stores and tagged the Arc de Triomphe in Paris with multi-coloured graffiti. Protesters angry about rising taxes and the high cost of living clashed with riot police, who closed off some of the city's most popular tourist areas and fired tear gas and water cannon in running street battles with activists dressed in the fluorescent yellow vests of a new protest movement. It was the third straight weekend of clashes in Paris and the worst urban violence since at least 2005. Hours later, cars still smouldered and law enforcement and protesters were still facing off elsewhere in the capital.