Protesters blocked the entrance to the Louvre in Paris on Monday, as French authorities scrambled to stem public discontent fuelling mass cost-of-living demonstrations that over the weekend spilled over into some of the worst street violence in recent years.

President Emmanuel Macron ordered a security review as the country's interior minister admitted that the police "had lost control" during the weekend's unrest.

Undeterred, the Yellow Vests movement which organised the weekend's rallies called for a new round of protests Saturday.

Italy, Spain and Portugal, where anger over rising prices has also led to protests, were keeping a nervous eye on the developments after smaller clashes broke out in Milan over the weekend and protests about housing costs persisted in Spanish cities.

Some half a million people turned out across France to protest the surging cost of living, a culmination of four weeks of pr...