Protests across France

PROTESTERS have hit France with transport strikes, demonstrations and traffic blockades, pitting the power of the streets against President Emmanuel Macron's government and its proposals to cut funding for public services.

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The first whiffs of police tear gas came before daybreak on Thursday, with scuffles between riot officers and protesters in Paris.

Planned nationwide demonstrations, from France's biggest cities to small towns, were expected to mobilise hundreds of thousands of marchers and voice anger about mounting poverty, sharpening inequality and growing struggles for low-paid workers and others to make ends meet.

"We say 'no' to the government. We've had enough. There's no more money, a high cost of living," striking transport worker Nadia Belhoum said at a before-dawn protest targeting a Paris bus depot.

She described "people agonising, being squeezed like a lemon even if there's no more juice".