PARIS - France's government unveiled a draft 2020 budget on Thursday with more than nine billion euros in tax cuts for households as it hopes to move on from on from roiling "yellow vest" protests while still cutting the deficit to within EU limits.
The "social crisis" brought on by the protests, as well as a slowdown in global economic growth, "led us to make decisions that encourage investment and consumption", Economy Minister Bruno Le Maire said as he unveiled the draft 2020 budget.
The draft budget, which will be officially presented to the cabinet on Friday, will cut taxes for households by 9.3 billion euros ($10 billion) and businesses by more than one billion euros.
That includes five billion euros in tax cuts for some 12 million households already promised by President Emmanuel Macron, the result of a "great national debate" he held to try to address the ongoing protests.
Macron, who swept to the presidency in 2017 with a pledge to get the country back on a solid financial footing, was caught short by the "yellow vest" movement which accused the former investment banker of ignoring the day-to-day struggles of many French.
After months of street protests that often spiraled into rioting and battles with police, Macron unveiled tax cuts, wage increases and other measures for low-income households.
The measures are expected to push this year's deficit to 3.1 percent of gross domestic product, making France the only eurozone member to exceed the bloc's three percent limit -- even as countries like Germany, the Netherlands and Portugal are likely to post surpluses.
The government forecast next year's deficit ratio falling to 2.2 percent, still short of the previous goal of two percent.
And France's debt mountain will barely budge next year from 98.7 percent of GDP -- far above the 60 percent or less demanded of eurozone members.
The money for the yellow vests -- who are also demanding improved public services -- also makes it unlikely Macron will honour his campaign pledge of balancing the government's books in 2022.
"The government abandoned its strategy of reducing France's structural deficit in the aftermath of the yellow vests," Charles de Courson, an independent lawmaker respected on both the right and left for his public finance acumen, told AFP.
Nevertheless, the fiscal relief has helped sustain French growth, expected to reach 1.4 percent this year even as EU economic powerhouse Germany risks falling into recession. However the government revised its growth forecast for next year down to 1.3 percent.
GERMANY URGED TO INVEST
Le Maire called on Germany to invest to prevent the flagging eurozone economy from getting worse.
"Germany must invest and invest now, the sooner the better," he said.
"Do not wait for the economic situation to worsen to make the necessary decisions."
He also defended European Central Bank chief Mario Draghi, who has come under heavy criticism in some circles, including Germany, for unleashing a huge stimulus package aimed at propping up the eurozone economy.
"We support the courageous decision made by the ECB and its president," he said.
Budget Minister Gerald Darmanin said this week that the creation of a pay-as-you-go income tax system, which did away with self-reporting months after the fiscal year-end, had brought a 2-billion-euro windfall to state coffers.
The government has already indicated that defense and security spending will increase next year, offset by cuts at the finance and budget ministries, and reduced funds for local authorities.
Yet Macron has abandoned his pledge of slashing 50,000 central government jobs during his five-year term, saying that only 10,500 would be now be cut.
"France has chosen the right economic policies, even if it was forced to do so" because of the yellow vest revolt, said Philippe Waechter, chief economist at Ostrum Asset Management in Paris.
"We have a European economy that's slowing quite rapidly, and you're not going to reverse this by cutting back even more," he told AFP.
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Paris riot police fired teargas as they squared off against hard-line demonstrators among tens of thousands of May Day protesters, who flooded the city Wednesday in a test for France's zero-tolerance policy on street violence.
Tensions were palpable as a heady mix of labor unionists, "yellow vest" demonstrators and anti-capitalists gathered in the French capital, putting security forces on high alert.
Ahead of the main march, the city was on lockdown with more than 7,400 police and gendarmes deployed with orders from President Emmanuel Macron to take an "extremely firm stance" if faced with violence.
Clashes briefly erupted on Montparnasse Boulevard, where hundreds of anti-capitalist "black bloc" activists pushed to the front of the gathering crowd, hurling bottles and other projectiles at police, who fired tear gas and stingball grenades, an AFP correspondent said.
Used at ground level, the grenades release scores of rubber pellets that cause an intense stinging to the legs.
Authorities had warned this year's marches would likely spell trouble, coming barely a week after leaders of the yellow vest anti-government movement angrily dismissed a package of tax cuts by Macron.
And with some agitators vowing on social media to turn Paris into "the capital of rioting", the government moved to deploy security on an "exceptional scale" throughout the capital.
Last year, officials were caught off guard by some 1,200 troublemakers who ran amok in Paris, vandalizing businesses and clashing with police.
By early afternoon, thousands had flocked to the Montparnasse area, many wearing the hi-visibility jackets that gave the name to the yellow vest protesters.
Since November, the city has struggled to cope with the weekly yellow vest protests, which have often descended into chaos with a violent minority smashing up and torching shops, restaurants and newspaper stands.
Across the city on Wednesday, streets were barricaded and shops had boarded up their windows, with police ordering the closure of all businesses along the route of the main march.
"We are not afraid of the union marches but of the black blocs," local restaurant owner Serge Tafanel told AFP.
- 'Capital of rioting' -
Interior Minister Christophe Castaner said several groups on social media had urged protesters to transform Paris into "the capital of rioting", with police gearing up for the arrival of up to 2,000 activists bristling for a fight.
Many are anti-capitalist youths, often known as black blocs, who dress in black and wear face masks.
Nearly 200 motorcycle units have been deployed across the capital to respond quickly to flare-ups of violence, and drones are being used to track protesters' movements.
Castaner said police would carry out preemptive searches of anyone planning to march, a new tactic allowed under a security law passed recently in response to the yellow vest violence.
From the early hours of Wednesday, several dozen police officers could be seen at the city's main train stations, carrying out bag random searches, AFP journalists said.
By midday, police said 88 people had been detained for questioning.
- Sidelined, unions seek visibility -
Last Thursday, in a major policy speech aimed at calming the yellow vest anger, Macron promised a string of reforms including tax cuts worth 5 billion euros ($5.5 billion).
The yellow vests rejected it as too little, too late, pledging to keep up the protests, which began last year over rising taxes on fuel and pensions but have since morphed into a wider movement.
Although the numbers have steadily fallen, the rallies have remained in the headlines, largely over disorder by a handful of violent protesters along the Champs-Elysees.
Following a particularly violent demo in March, the government adopted a "zero-tolerance" approach, passing an "anti-rioter" bill which included making it a criminal offense to wear a mask at a protest.
France's powerful labor unions are also hoping to use the traditional May Day march for workers' rights to raise their profile after finding themselves sidelined for months by the grass-roots yellow vest movement.
Like the yellow vests, the unions were also disappointed by Macron's speech.
"We must be careful not to lose the meaning of this day," warned Philippe Martinez, secretary general of the CGT, one of France's biggest unions.
"It is a day of mobilization which deserves our full attention after Emmanuel Macron's announcement in which he said: 'I hear you and I'm not changing anything'."
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PARIS -- Rioters looted and torched shops and businesses on the famed Champs-Elysees avenue in Paris on Saturday, on the 18th weekend of French "yellow vest" protests, characterized by a sharp increase in violence after weeks of dwindling turnout.
President Emmanuel Macron cut short a skiing trip in the Pyrenees to return to Paris for a crisis meeting, as hooded protesters went on the rampage in Paris, leaving a trail of destruction in the touristic heart of the city.
He vowed to take "strong decisions" to prevent further violence, following the emergency talks held at the interior ministry late Saturday.
"There are people today who try by all means... to damage the Republic by breaking, by destroying things at the risk of killing someone," Macron said.
"All those who were there were complicit in" the havoc spread across the Champs-Elysees, he added.
The police appeared overrun as protesters swarmed the Champs-Elysees, vandalizing and later setting fire to Fouquet's brasserie, a favorite hangout of the rich and famous for the past century -- as well as luxury handbag store Longchamp, a bank, another restaurant and several news stands.
The rioters also looted several clothing stores and set fire to barricades in scenes reminiscent of the worst yellow-vest riots in Paris in December.
"Like the vast majority of French people, I feel very angry today," tweeted French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe, who visited the scene.
"Today's actions are not the work of protesters, but of looters, arsonists and criminals. No cause justifies this violence," he added.
In a statement, the national police denounced the "mindless violence, cowardly attacks" and stressed their determination to guarantee public order against "provocateurs and vandals".
BANK BLAZE
Saturday's turnout was seen a test of the ongoing strength of the movement, which began in November over fuel tax hikes and quickly ballooned into a rebellion against Macron's policies, seen by the protesters as geared towards the rich.
In recent weeks, the protests have dwindled in size. But the interior ministry estimated the turnout in Paris Saturday at 10,000, out of around 32,300 nationwide.
That is a fraction of the 282,000 people they said took part in the inaugural demonstrations across France on November 17, but more than the previous weekend.
Saturday's protests were markedly more violent than in recent weeks. Police said close to 240 people were arrested, while prosecutors said more than 100 had been taken into custody.
The bank set alight was on the ground floor of an apartment building, and fire firefighters had to quickly evacuate the residents, including a 9-month-old baby.
Eleven people suffered minor injuries in the bank blaze, the fire service told AFP.
The violence left 17 members of the police injured, and 42 protesters, said police.
'ULTRA-VIOLENT' MINORITY
The rally coincides with the end of the public debates called by the president to try take the heat out of the protests and give voters a forum to propose policy changes.
Around half a million people turned out at town hall-style meetings held around the country over the past two months.
But many "yellow vests" dismissed the consultation exercise as a smoke-screen.
On Saturday, the police used tear gas, stun grenades and water cannon to try repel protesters who gathered at the foot of the Arc de Triomphe war memorial, which was sacked by protesters on December 1.
But for 7 hours they continued to be pelted with paving stones by mostly black-clad demonstrators.
"There are a number of people who have come just to smash things," Interior Minister Christophe Castaner said, estimating that some 1,500 "ultra-violent" activists had infiltrated the crowd.
"We have been too nice, that's why it's violent today. I'm not in favour (of violence) but we are ruled by corrupt people who dare to lecture us," Jean-Francois Bernard, a landscape gardener who was among the protesters, told AFP.
The presidency later announced that Macron was returning home from La Mongie ski resort where he and his wife Brigitte arrived Thursday to spend the weekend.
'WE WANT RESULTS'
Protesters streamed into the capital by train and car for a rally they called an "ultimatum" to the president. Over 5,000 police were deployed, along with several armored police vehicles.
Macron was caught off guard when grassroots protesters began occupying traffic roundabouts in November over fuel taxes. He has loosened the state's purse strings to the tune of 10 billion euros ($11.2 billion) to try defuse the protests.
But the measures failed to quell the anger of the demonstrators, who accuse the former investment banker of being elitist and favoring the rich.
The Paris protest was one of several in the capital on Saturday, where tens of thousands of climate campaigners also held a demonstration to demand that the French government uphold its commitments on reducing emissions.
Yellow vest protests also took place several other French cities. At Bordeaux, in the southwest, police clashed with protesters and a bank was damaged.
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PARIS - More than 10,000 people marched through Paris on Sunday in protest at "yellow vest" violence during the anti-government demos that have drawn tens of thousands of people to the streets over the past 11 weeks.
Since mid-November President Emmanuel Macron has offered concessions and debates seeking to quell the weekly rallies that often end in violent clashes with police in the most serious challenge yet to his government.
In Sunday's rival protest, the crowds marched in rain from the Place de la Nation square to the Bastille monument, some chanting "Yes to democracy, no to revolution" as they waved French and European Union flags.
Dubbed the "red scarf" movement, the centrist initiative is the brainchild of an engineer from Toulouse who was horrified by the violence seen among more extremist "yellow vest" demonstrators.
Many protesters joining the rally said they were not against "yellow vest" demands for greater help for France's poor, but were sick of the clashes and destruction that have marked protests.
A nursing manager who gave her name as Marie-Line said she believed the yellow vests had just cause to "grumble", but came "to say that this verbal and physical violence must stop".
"It's not a protest against the yellow vests -- it's a protest to say, you've made your demands, we are listening to them," Francois Patriat, a senator from Macron's centrist party, told AFP at the demonstration.
"There are other places to discuss this than the street. You cannot block the country and economy because you consider the president to be illegitimate."
Sunday's protest was almost double the size of the "yellow vest" demonstration in Paris a day earlier, when some 4,000 people came out to rail against Macron.
The protesters are named after the luminous road safety vests that they wear.
Originally sparked by rises in fuel taxes, the movement quickly snowballed into a widespread revolt over accusations the president, an ex-banker, is out of touch with rural and small-town France.
But their numbers have ebbed in recent weeks after Macron announced a series of policy climbdowns and launched a two-month consultation to allow people to vent their anger.
PROMINENT 'YELLOW VEST' HURT
Saturday's protest in Paris saw a prominent "yellow vest" activist, Jerome Rodrigues, badly injured. Both Rodrigues and his lawyer Philippe de Veulle said he was hit in the eye by a police rubber bullet, an anti-riot weapon that has become highly controversial in France.
"He is in shock. He will be handicapped for life. It is a tragedy for him and his family," de Veulle told BFM television.
Rodrigues, a construction worker, was placed in an artificial coma overnight after the incident at the Bastille monument on Saturday afternoon.
The 40-year-old, who has 50,000 followers on Facebook, was live-streaming the protest on the website when he was hit.
De Veulle said Rodrigues was struck in the eye with a "flashball", referring to the 40-mm (1.6-inch) rubber projectiles used by French riot police.
Later Sunday Rodrigues told reporters he would remain in hospital for a further five days, adding that only time would tell if his vision had been damaged.
He said he had agreed with Eric Drouet, another leading figure in the movement, to launch a "call for calm" while at the same time pressing on and strengthening the protests "without violence".
"I will not stop, I will be back at the demonstrations as soon as my health permits me," he said.
Junior Interior Minister Laurent Nunez on Sunday told LCI television there was "no evidence" to show Rodrigues was hit by a police rubber projectile. Investigations were still looking into the incident.
The devices -- which are not used in most European countries -- have been blamed for dozens of serious injuries at "yellow vest" protests, leading to calls for them to be banned.
On Saturday, police using the weapons were for the first time deployed wearing body cams in a bid to increase transparency.
Rodrigues' lawyer insisted his client was not one of the "hooligans" who have been joining the weekly protests to cause trouble for police.
In the video, Rodrigues can be heard several times warning protesters to leave the Bastille area because hard-left "black bloc" agitators were coming to attack the police.
Witnesses picked up the projectile that struck Rodrigues and police are investigating the circumstances of the incident.
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PARIS - Thousands of "yellow vest" protesters returned to the streets of France Saturday to protest against President Emmanuel Macron's policies, clashing with police in several cities in a challenge to his bid to quell the movement.
Police fired tear gas and water cannon to push back protesters at Place de la Bastille in Paris, one of the regular protest sites, as some demonstrators threw stones from a building site.
The local prefecture reported 223 arrests in Paris.
The interior ministry estimated numbers for the 11th week of protests were at 69,000 across France, compared to 84,000 last Saturday.
In Paris, the official count was 4,000 demonstrators against 7,000 the previous weekend.
Clashes erupted too in western France in Nantes and Evreux and in the southern city of Montpellier, where a police officer was injured by "a pyrotechnic device" said a statement from the local prefecture.
In Paris and other cities, the yellow vest movement had called to continue the protests into the night. But police quickly dispersed several hundred protesters in the capital's symbolic Republique square using tear gas, water cannon and stun grenades to clear the area, AFP journalists said.
The protests erupted in mid-November over Macron's economic reforms, but have since grown into a wider rallies calling for the resignation of the former investment banker who critics say is out of touch with the economic struggles of ordinary French people.
Interior Minister Christophe Castaner on Twitter criticised "rioters disguised as yellow vest protesters" after Saturday's clashes.
'KEEP THE PRESSURE ON'
The weekend's protests against Macron's tax and social policies came as divisions appeared among the yellow vests -- named after the high-visibility vests they wear -- as to where to take the movement.
In a new political development, a 31-year-old nurse named Ingrid Levavasseur said this week she would lead a yellow vest list of candidates for the European elections in May.
An initial survey in the wake of the announcement suggested they would garner a respectable 13 percent of the vote.
But not every protester appeared to welcome this development.
"There is a hard core that is ready to keep fighting," said 42-year-old Gilbert Claro from the Paris suburbs. But the movement "is not meant to be political", he added.
"We have to keep the pressure on in the streets," to get their demands accepted, said Virginie, an activist in her 40s who said she had been involved in the protests from the beginning.
She and many other protesters want a citizen-sponsored referendum so ordinary people can have more of a say in government policy.
This idea has been consistently rejected by the government, although Macron made some concessions last December in a bid to end the protests.
Recent opinion polls suggest that he has regained some of the ground lost during the crisis, as he has put his case at a series of town hall events around the country.
The "great national debate" he initiated in response to the protests has nevertheless been dismissed as a public relations operation by many yellow vest protesters.
A "masquerade", said Mathieu Styrna, a 36-year-old carpenter from northern France in Paris for the protests. His impression, he said, was that the participants had been selected.
NIGHT PROTESTS
Outside Paris, several thousand protesters were marching in Bordeaux and Toulouse in the southwest, two of the cities where support for the movement has been consistently strong.
In Bordeaux, police fired tear gas and water canon to break up small groups of protesters tossing fireworks and bottles as night fell.
In the Mediterranean port city of Marseille, members of the CGT union joined the protests and about a thousand protesters turned out in the eastern city of Lyon.
In the north, officials in the city of Evreux, Normandy, reported clashes there and damage to the police and Banque de France buildings.
For the first time on Saturday, riot police using controversial defence ball launchers (LBDs) that shoot 40-millimeter (1.6-inch) rubber and foam rounds were equipped with cameras.
A French court on Friday refused a bid brought by France's League for Human Rights (LDH) and the CGT to ban the weapons, blamed for serious injuries suffered by some demonstrators.
The police authority in Paris announced the introduction of the cameras in a move for greater transparency.
On Sunday, supporters of the government will stage their first "red scarf" protest to represent what they say is "the silent majority" defending "democracy and its institutions" and denouncing the violence of the yellow vests protests.
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PARIS -- Emmanuel Macron intended to start the new year on the offensive against the "yellow vest" protesters. Instead, the French president is reeling from more violent street demonstrations.
What began as a grassroot rebellion against diesel taxes and the high cost of living has morphed into something more perilous for Macron - an assault on his presidency and French institutions.
The anti-government protesters on Saturday used a forklift truck to force their way into a government ministry compound, torched cars near the Champs Elysees and in one violent skirmish on a bridge over the Seine punched and kicked riot police officers to the ground.
The French authorities' struggle to maintain order during the weekend protests raises questions not just over policing tactics but also over how Macron responds, as he prepares to bring in stricter rules for unemployment benefits and cut thousands of public sector jobs.
On Sunday evening, Macron wrote on Twitter: "Once again, the Republic was attacked with extreme violence - its guardians, its representatives, its symbols."
His administration had hardened its stance against the yellow vests after the protest movement appeared to have lost momentum over the Christmas holidays.
The government would not relent in its pursuit of reforms to reshape the economy, government spokesman Benjamin Griveaux said on Friday, branding the remaining protesters agitators seeking to overthrow the government.
Twenty-four hours later, he was fleeing his office out of a back door as protesters invaded the courtyard and smashed up several cars. "It wasn't me who was attacked," he later said. "It was the Republic."
Driving the unrest is anger, particularly among low-paid workers, over a squeeze on household incomes and a belief that Macron is indifferent to citizens' needs as he enacts reforms seen as pro-business and favoring the wealthy.
Macron's government has been shaken by the unrest, caught off-guard when in November the yellow vests began blocking roads, occupying highway tollbooths and staging violent invasions of Paris and other cities on weekends.
Two months on, it has not found a way to soothe the yellow vests' anger and meet their demands, which include a higher minimum wage, a more participative democracy and Macron's resignation.
With no clear leader, negotiating with the group is hard.
'IMPASSE'
Macron sought to head off the rebellion in December with a promise of tax cuts for pensioners, wage hikes for the poorest workers and a reversal of planned fuel tax hikes, while pledging a national debate on key policy issues. He fell short.
The price tag for those concessions: 10 billion euros, enough to send French borrowing costs higher as investors fretted about debt levels and Macron's ability to reform the euro zone's second largest economy.
Laurent Berger, head of the reform-minded CFDT trade union, France's largest by members, on Sunday accused Macron's government of going it alone at a time it needed to reach out.
"We're at an impasse. We have on the one side a violent movement ... and on the other a government which thinks it can find the answers all on its own," Berger told France Inter.
Some 50,000 protesters marched through cities and towns across France, including Paris, Bordeaux, Toulouse, Rennes and Marseille.
In Paris, the street marches began peacefully but degenerated when some protesters threw punches at baton-wielding officers, torched electric scooters and garbage bins along the Left Bank's upscale Boulevard Saint Germain and set cars ablaze near the Champs Elysees. Clashes erupted in other cities too.
Both yellow vests and "casseurs", hooded youths from anti-capitalist or anarchist groups, appeared to be involved.
Labor Minister Muriel Penicaud said the prolonged unrest was hurting foreign investment.
Opposition lawmakers demanded the government put forward concrete proposals to address the yellow vests' demands, but government ministers dismissed caving in to a minority of troublemakers.
"We need to stop being a country that listens to those who cry the loudest," Education Minister Jean-Michel Blanquer told LCI news channel.
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PARIS -- The Bank of France on Monday slashed its fourth quarter growth forecast in half, to 0.2 percent from 0.4 percent, citing the impact of the "yellow vest" protests which have rocked the country.
"Services activity has slowed under the impact of the movement. Transport, the restaurant and auto repair sectors have gone backwards," the French central bank said in its latest company survey.
Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire had warned Sunday that the protests sweeping France were a "catastrophe."
"It's a catastrophe for commerce, it's a catastrophe for our economy," Le Maire told reporters as he visited shops in Paris hit by looting during anti-government riots a day earlier.
The Bank of France's latest estimate for the 3 months to December is well short of the 0.8 percent that would be needed to meet the government's 2018 growth target of 1.7 percent.
The French economy expanded 0.4 percent in the third quarter and 0.2 percent in both the first and second, according to official statistics.
Le Maire, speaking earlier on RTL, said he expected the protests to cut fourth quarter growth by 0.1 percentage point but refused to comment on a possible downward revision of the full-year 1.7 percent figure.
"I am not going to revise the figures for the moment but we will certainly have 0.1 percentage point less growth at the end of this year," he said.
"That cannot be made up. That is the reality -- for commerce, small business owners who have seen their shops damaged, vandalized, looted," Le Maire said.
"That is also the reality for the foreign investors who are looking at us... I see already the impact that has abroad and it is not good for (image) of our country," he added.
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PARIS - Fresh clashes in the "yellow vest" fuel price protests across France led to more injuries on Sunday, adding to the more than 400 already reported by the government, as some demonstrators vowed to continue their action over the coming days.
Around 46,000 people took part across France in a second day of protests, police said, compared to Saturday when close to 300,000 people participated, although there were again clashes with police -- and sometimes motorists.
Police were searching for a driver who forced a road block at Saint-Quentin, northeast France, leaving one protester seriously injured.
And police used tear gas to break up a gathering of about a thousand protesters near the northern city of Caen, after acts of vandalism and the burning of wooden pallets.
The protesters, nicknamed "yellow vests" for the high-visibility jackets they wear, blocked roundabouts, major highways and thoroughfares on Saturday to express anger over increased taxes on fuel and their shrinking purchasing power under President Emmanuel Macron.
French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe on Sunday evening said the government would stay the course, but acknowledged the "suffering" expressed by the protests.
"A government that always changes its stance, zigzagging through difficulties... would not lead France in the right direction," he told France 2 television.
"We heard anger but also heard suffering, the lack of prospects, the idea that the authorities for a long time did not respond to the concerns and feeling of abandonment felt by part of the population," he said.
'IDIOTIC BEHAVIOR'
Interior Minister Christophe Castaner earlier reported that the first day and night of protests had left one person dead and more than 400 people hurt, 14 of them seriously.
French retail group Auchan reported violent incidents at around 20 shopping centers where it operates hypermarkets.
The injured, 409 in total, included 28 police, paramilitary police or firefighters.
Castaner told RTL radio that 288,000 people had taken part in Saturday's protests at 2,034 locations countrywide. About 3,500 stayed out overnight, he added.
Police questioned nearly 300 protesters, and took about half of them into custody.
"Last night was restive.... There were assaults, fights, stabbings," Castaner said.
"There were fights among 'yellow vest' protesters. There was a lot of alcohol at certain venues, which led to this idiotic behavior."
In the eastern Savoie region, authorities said a woman trying to get her daughter to a doctor panicked after protesters surrounded her car and banged on the roof.
She accelerated into the crowd and killed a 63-year-old woman.
The driver was on Sunday charged with manslaughter before being released on conditional bail, prosecutors said.
Budget Minister Gerald Darmanin said Sunday the government was aware of unhappiness over high fuel taxes, but said it had "a duty" to transform the French economy with the aim of making it less oil-dependent.
A poll published in the Journal de Dimanche weekly said that 62 percent of those questioned believed their purchasing power was more important than a fast transition towards renewable energy.
MORE TO COME?
In several spots across the country protesters vowed to carry on their action on Monday and beyond.
A spokesman for the movement in the western region of Morbihan said "tomorrow we will be joined by lorry drivers", while in the city of Le Mans, southwest of Paris, protesters said that farmers would help them block a major motorway, the A28 leading up to the Picardy coast.
"There are many young people among us because we can't make ends meet anymore," said Emilie, a 27-year old temporary sales manager in Cavaillon in the south of the country.
"We work like slaves and at some point enough is enough. We have no life, we're just surviving," she said.
Analysts say the movement has come to represent more widespread frustration against Macron, a former investment banker who has pushed through a series of reforms aimed at bolstering economic growth.
Another poll also published in the Journal du Dimanche indicated that Macron's popularity had dipped a further four points to 25 percent.
The survey was conducted November 9-17 with 1,957 respondents.
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