Paris May Day protests: Restaurants, vehicles torched; hundreds arrested

Nearly 300 protesters were arrested after May Day riots in central Paris, where hooded youths torched a McDonald's restaurant and several vehicles during a march against President Emmanuel Macron's public sector reforms.

Shouting "Rise up, Paris" and "Everyone hates the police", around 1,200 people in black jackets and face masks on Tuesday joined the traditional May 1 union-led demonstration for workers' rights, according to a count by Paris police.

After trying to hold up the march a group of protesters ran amok along the route, destroying a McDonald's restaurant near Austerlitz station, east of the city centre, and setting it ablaze.

They also torched vehicles at a car dealership, along with a mechanical digger and a scooter, leaving a trail of destruction and plumes of dark smoke billowing into the air.

The worst unrest in months in Paris comes at a time of heightened tensions over Macron's reform of the public sector and follows a showdown between police and anti-capitalist squatters at a sprawling commune in western France.