Clashes erupted between protesters and anti-riot police in Rennes on Saturday, a day after France's Constitutional Council approved the Macron government’s unpopular pension reform plan.

Footage shows police firing water cannons and tear gas in an attempt to disperse the demonstrators, who were seen standing behind umbrellas and wooden boards in resistance. Fires could also be seen burning in the streets as officers rushed in to quell the unrest.

Earlier in the day, huge crowds of protesters marched through the city centre in a demonstration called for by local collectives and trade unions.

"The best way to frame the order of the day, it's the retreat of the reform. It's the definitive and total retreat of a villain project which is a nationwide insult toward the workers,” said a representative of the Force Ouvriere union.

“We hold in our hearts, our guts and our neurons another future, one of equality, fraternity, of universal concord based on social and economic justice. That's what we are doing today," he added.

France's Constitutional Council ruled on Friday that the plan to raise the minimum retirement age from 62 to 64 is valid, with the reforms now expected to come into force by the end of the year.

Protests have been going on since January and escalated after the government pushed through the changes without a vote in the National Assembly. The administration maintains the need for reforms to ensure the sustainability of the system.