Police had banned the protesters from the Champs Elysees, but groups of them broke through to the avenue.
This is Ligne 1 in Paris and it runs east to west and serves tourist stops like Louvre-Rivoli and Champs Elysees.
Marks and Spencer's Champs Elysees store sells more chicken tikka masala than any branch in the UK and the fifth highest number of BLT sandwiches.
Downtown Paris celebrated, as car horns blared along the Champs Elysees.
The firm - not affiliated with Richard Branson's Virgin Group - has 26 stores in France, including a flagship outlet on the Champs Elysees in Paris.
So, with the dramatic backdrop of the Champs Elysees beckoning, Sastre has the yellow jersey, Oscar Freire the green, Bernard Kohl the polka dots, and Andy Schleck the white.
In all, 22 teams of nine riders will take part in this year's 20-stage Tour that starts on 5 July in Paris and ends on the Champs Elysees on 27 July.
After the culmination of the Tour on Paris' Champs Elysees on July 22, Wiggins will turn his attention to a home Olympic Games in London where he will compete in the time trial event.
After the inauguration, Mr Hollande rode up the Champs Elysees in an open-topped car, waving to the crowd despite the rain, before laying a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier under the Arc de Triomphe.
In every stage win, including the final Sunday dash along the Champs Elysees, Cavendish was paced by teammate George Hincapie, who would sprint to the lead with a kilometer to go and shield Cavendish from the wind.
Later reports suggested Ronaldo had suffered a pre-match fit, and the incident seemed to be playing on his teammates' minds as Zinedine Zidane struck twice for France in a 3-0 win, triggering wild celebrations on the Champs Elysees.
For the first time in 10 years, each of the Tour's 21 stages will take place within the France, with the riders starting on Corsica, before completing the 3, 360 kilometer marathon with a tradition dash along the iconic Champs Elysees on July 21.
Ten days ago Wiggins was on the Champs-Elysees in a yellow jersey, the first British champion of the Tour de France.
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He was sort of like Charles De Gaulle coming down the Champs-Elysees.
Wing Commander Ken Gatward, who lived in Essex, first flew his Bristol Beaufighter down the Champs-Elysees in the operation to boost French morale.
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People in the Champs-Elysees watched as the French Tricolour streamed from the fuselage of the aircraft and floated down on to the Arc de Triomphe.
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The 30-year-old Landis cruised to victory on the Champs-Elysees, a day after regaining the leader's yellow jersey and building an insurmountable lead in the final time trial.
But in the early hours of this morning they will burning the midnight oil one last time as Australia's latest national hero cycles down the Champs-Elysees wearing a yellow jersey and with a flute of champagne in his hand.
But, like a breakthrough band suddenly finding itself appreciated by a mainstream audience, the Londoner's serendipitous success in his own city, coming just days after he became the first ever Briton to ride up Paris' Champs-Elysees in the Tour de France winner's yellow jersey, has seen him transformed from respected niche sportsman into "Wiggo, " the people's champion and a cult phenomenon.
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