By STAMOS PROUSALIS

PARIS, Oct 17 (Reuters) - Clashes broke out between police and protesters in cities across France on Saturday as tens of thousands of people angered by rising costs and declining public services took to the streets in some of the country's most violent protests in years.

The Interior Ministry said ‌272 people had been arrested by mid-afternoon after violent incidents involving hooded individuals, including in Paris, Marseille in the south, Toulouse in the southwest, Angers ‌in the west and Lyon in east-central France.

The protesters said most people were protesting peacefully and put much of the violence down to troublemakers who had set out to cause damage and clash with the police.

The ​ministry said, however, that violence was increasing, and that there had been "confrontations with law enforcement, looting or attempted looting of shops, attacks on and damage to p...