The clashes came after up to 8,000 demonstrators gathered in the city centre. More than 500 people have been taken into custody.
At least 55 people have been injured, including three police officers.
The "yellow vest" movement opposed fuel tax rises but ministers say it has been hijacked by "ultra-violent" protesters.
Some 8,000 police officers and 12 armoured vehicles have been deployed in Paris, and nearly 90,000 officers were deployed countrywide.
Last week, hundreds of people were arrested and scores injured in violence in Paris - some of the worst street clashes in the French capital for decades.
Demonstrations are being held in several other cities including Lyon, Marseille and Grenoble, where a local leader of the yellow vests is reported to have been arrested.
Protests against climate change are also taking place in Paris and other locations across the country.
There have been a number of confrontations in Paris. Some protesters have been seen smashing shop fronts, painting walls with graffiti and setting fire to cars.
Video footage showed one demonstrator being hit in the torso with a rubber bullet while standing in front of a line of police with his hands up. At least three members of the press were also hit.
Water cannon were deployed on a street east of the city centre.
As the sun set, different groups of protesters were converging on Place de la République. As well as the yellow-vest demonstration, a climate-change march was also being held in the city.
However, the BBC correspondents on the scene say that the situation remains tense on the Champs-Élysées - where the daytime action was centred - and a high level of tear gas is still in the air.
As evening descends, the focus has shifted away from the Champs-Elysées to the surrounding streets and boulevards.
This is where the genuine yellow-vest protesters are outnumbered by groups of political agitators and common vandals.
They are torching cars and smashing shop windows, much as they did last week.
The riot police are reacting swiftly - charging rioters and sending in snatch squads to seize suspects. It is a scene of sporadic violence, but compared to last Saturday, the forces of law and order appear to be more in control.
French riot police fired tear gas and water cannon in Paris on Saturday, trying to stop thousands of yellow-vested protesters from converging on the presidential palace to express their anger at high taxes and French President Emmanuel Macron.
Security officials imposed a lockdown on parts of central Paris, determined to prevent a repeat of the rioting a week ago that damaged a major monument, injured 130 people and tarnished the country's global image.
Blue armored vehicles rumbled across cobblestone streets from the Arc de Triomphe across toward eastern Paris as scattered demonstrations spread around the city. Police were mounted on horses and surrounded protesters with trained dogs. A ring of steel surrounded the Elysee Palace itself, as police stationed trucks and reinforced steel barriers in streets throughout the entire neighborhood.
Associated Press reporters witnessed multiple protesters hurt in Saturday's clashes with police. Paris police said 30 people were injured, including three police officers. An AP video journalist was wounded in the leg as police fired tear gas and rubber bullets on the Champs-Elysees.
Some stores along the Champs-Elysee had boarded up their windows with plywood, making the neighborhood appear like it was bracing for a hurricane. Angry protesters on Saturday tried to rip the boards off.
Protesters threw flares and other projectiles and set fires but were repeatedly pushed back by tear gas and water cannon. By mid-afternoon, more than 700 people had been stopped and questioned, and more than 400 were being held in custody, according to a Paris police spokeswoman.
Despite the repeated skirmishes, Saturday's anti-government protests appeared less chaotic and violent than a week ago, when crowds defaced the Arc de Triomphe, set vehicles ablaze and looted high-end stores in the city's worst rioting since 1968.
Prized Paris monuments and normally bustling shopping meccas were locked down Saturday at the height of the holiday shopping season. The Eiffel Tower and Louvre Museum were among the many tourist attractions that closed for the day, fearing damages amid a new round of protests. Subway stations in the center of town were shut down.
The yellow vest movement — named after the fluorescent outerwear French drivers must keep in their vehicles — started as a protest against higher taxes for diesel and gas, but quickly expanded to encompass wide frustration at stagnant incomes, the rising cost of living and other grievances.
Macron on Wednesday agreed to abandon the fuel tax hike, which aimed to wean France off fossil fuels and uphold the Paris climate agreement, but that hasn't defused the anger.
After two weekends of violence in Paris that made the authorities look powerless, police went into overdrive Saturday to keep a lid on unrest. Police frisked people or searched bags throughout central Paris, and confiscated gas masks and protective goggles from AP journalists.
Protesters who came to Paris from Normandy described seeing officers block yellow-vested passengers from boarding public transportation at stops along their route. The national gendarme service posted a video on Twitter of police tackling a protester and confiscating his dangerous material, which appeared to be primarily a tennis racket.
Macron's government had warned that the yellow vest protests had created a "monster" and that Saturday's protests would be hijacked by radicalized and rebellious crowds.
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