ARMED police faced a riot on the streets of Paris after at least 100 demonstrators descended on the Champs Elysee in protest over the closure of a Christmas market.
Paris was due to celebrate the switching on of its Christmas lights tonight but instead violence broke out on the famous boulevard amid clashes and scuffles between police, cameramen and protestors.
What was due to be a festive event was disturbed by the whistles and boos in protest against the removal of a Christmas market and ferris wheel.
Lily-Rose Depp, the daughter of Johnny Depp and Vanessa Paradis, was at the Champs Elsysee service this evening to switch on the Christmas lights.
But armed police had to escort her away as the rioters descended on the celebration.
Paris councillors voted to axe the Grande Roue, the city’s version of the London Eye which is operated by the “fairground king” Marcel Campion and will now be closed from July 2018.
Councillors voted almost unanimously against renewing Campion’s licence for the attraction, which has sat intermittently on the Place de la Concorde near the Louvre museum since 1993.
And in In July, the council voted to axe the Christmas market he has run on the Champs Élysées since 2008.
Permanent removal of the wheel would help protect the area’s “historic visual appearance”, they said.
And lawmakers said many items for sale in the Christmas market are not in keeping with an avenue that hosts luxury labels such as Louis Vuitton.
Mr Campion,77, has been running the Christmas far since 2008. The 240-stall fair attracts some 15million visitors a year, creating 2,000 jobs.
He has denied the market sells poor quality goods, saying: “We have a six-year contract with the city which is being called into question after only two years”.
Earlier this month funfair operators and market stallholders blocked main roads around the capital in the latest of several protests over the decision.
More than 271 miles of traffic built up as tempers reached boiling point over the council’s decision to vote against review French “funfair king” Marcel Campion’s contract to manage the fair.
Paris City Hall said it “wants to focus on offering visitors and Parisians more attractive and innovative events that will enhance the Champs-Élysées in a cultural and aesthetic dimension in keeping with this exceptional site.
“We want local and sustainable products. This is not what we’ve seen. This is why we’re ending it.”
And tonight, images from the scene show as fares were lit and protestors clashed with armed police.
Smoke billowed above the protest as a shower of confetti from the light-switch on flooded the scene.
Others honked car horns and whistled from cars driving on the strip of luxury shops.
Earlier this month, Marcel Campion, dubbed the ‘fairground king’ after he founded the market nine years ago, warned officials “Paris will be block” if they failed to overturn their decision.
He said: “If we can’t set up there, there will be demonstrations every day and we will block Paris.”
Mr Campion said there has been a disagreement over the fine print in the contract as to whether he had a two or six-year deal.
Lily-Rose Depp, the 18-year-old model, put on a high-spirited display as she kicked off the festive proceedings at the switch-on tonight, looking typically chic for the occasion.
The Chanel ambassador sported a white padded jacket, embellished with the Eiffel Tower, teamed with black skinny jeans and chic heeled boots.
She turned on the lights alongside French politician Jeanne d'Hauteserre and the Mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo.