Clashes broke out between police and protesters in cities across France on Saturday as tens of thousands of people took to the streets in some of the country's most violent protests in years over rising costs and declining public services. Some 272 people had been arrested by mid-afternoon after violent incidents involving hooded individuals, including in Paris, Marseille in the south, Rennes in the northwest, Toulouse in the southwest and Angers in the west, the Interior Ministry said. "Such actions include attempted looting, confrontations with law enforcement, the setting of fires to street furniture and the targeting of seats of power and media outlets," it said, blaming the unrest on what it described as the "ultra-left". In Lyon, in east-central France, protesters also set ablaze a tourist office. The protests began last month at high schools in Paris' poor northern suburbs, where anger over teacher shortages and shabby facilities evolved into a broader movement focused on inequality, public spending and living standards. "We are fighting because the cost of living is too harsh, because the price of fuel is too high, because high school pupils are being violently attacked and hurt all over the country just for trying to protest and ask for more teachers and decent learning conditions," said Lola, a 19-year-old protester in Paris. A large police presence was visible in central Paris, especially near landmarks such as the Champs-Elysees and the Arc de Triomphe, which were excluded from the routes of two authorized demonstrations.