all these side streets, that s where the police have been playing cat and mouse with the protesters. we have seen them arresting some of them, searching some of them, taking some away. we don t have accurate figures for the number of arrests in paris tonight yet. we know there have been protests in the south, in the center, in marseilles and the south of the ed mediterranean coast. police sent elite police officers to combat riots. 45,000 police spread out across the country. what we have seen here in the city in paris tonight are hundreds upon hundreds of highly mobile police that are coming in on motorbikes. they get off the motorbikes, they yjump off, the passengers, they run and deal with the crowd. it is still ongoing. the police here, as i say on the corners here, a couple of police
vehicles blocking the road here just now. it is hard to tell what s going on, where the police are going to move to next. but what the effort seems to be is to keep the crowds moving, is to not let people gather. it is just to keep pushing them away, pushing them away, trying to keep control of the situation. in a few minutes, we will take a look, go walk up to the top and see what s going on there. this seems to be set to go late into the night. the big test for france is tonight. if they can get through tonight with less violence than the previous nights, the government will breathe somewhat of a sigh of relief. we have seen the fires. some fires in paris, some vehicles overturned. there have been hundreds, if not thousands, of vehicles damaged on recent days. will that number will lower tonight? it is absolute ly pivotal for france. the french president canceled his trip for monday to go to
it happened on the out skirts of paris. nic robertson is standing by. nic, what are you seeing? right now we re at the center of paris. the police behind me, it might look quiet at the moment, 15 minutes ago they were firing tear gas down the side streets here. there is a nightclub here. we just walked passed it. a few minutes ago, they were running down the street choking. i will walk out on to the main street here, you can see the blue flashing lights in this direction. you can hear the sirens going off. let me ask claudia to turn around and look up right there. you see the blue lights. this is the main, central shopping district, the main street, the big street in paris. tourists, restaurants, cafes around here. there is a lot of side streets.