Protesters angry over high fuel prices were expected to block access to French fuel depots and stop traffic on major roads for a fourth day Tuesday, incensed by the government's refusal to scrap anti-pollution taxes.

One person was accidentally killed and 528 people have been injured, 17 seriously, during the "Yellow Vest" protests that have galvanised resistance to President Emmanuel Macron's economic policies.

As the protests rumbled on, it emerged four men were taken into custody and charged as part of an anti-terrorist investigation in the southeastern city of Saint-Etienne on Saturday - the first day of the blockades - accused of planning to take advantage of the police mobilisation for the demonstrations to mount a terror attack, according to Le Parisien newspaper.

One of the suspects texted his fiancee saying, "It's going to bleed on November 17", the newspaper said.

Officials were not immediately available to comment on the report.

On Monday, tens of thousands of demonstrators were still manning hundreds of barricades on motorways and petrol stations, down from nearly 300,000 protesters at over 2,000 sites on Saturday.

Oil giant Total confirmed that some of its trucks had been prevented from reaching depots in the south and east of the country, causing alarm among small business owners.

"The worst thing would be to block the economy and make the whole situation worse," Alain Griset, head of the U2P federation of small and medium-sized businesses said in a statement.

On Monday, security forces cleared protesters from several sites, including a suspension bridge leading to the southwestern city of Bordeaux that had been blocked for three days.

'Much more than fuel'

The "Yellow Vest" movement - named after the high-visibility vests motorists are required to carry in their cars - was sparked by rising diesel prices, which many blame on taxes implemented in recent years as part of France's anti-pollution fight.

It quickly snowballed into a protest by rural and small-town France over falling spending power of the less well-off under Macron, assailed as a "president of the rich".

"It's about much more than fuel. They (the government) have left us with nothing," Dominique, a 50-year-old unemployed technician told AFP at a roadblock in the town of Martigues, near the southern city of Marseille.

Macron's government, which is trying to buff its environmental credentials, has vowed not to back down on trying to wean people off their cars through fuel taxes.

While the number of protesters has fallen since the weekend, in tandem with plummeting temperatures, further large-scale demonstrations are planned.

Two separate calls for mass protests in Paris on November 24 were widely circulated on social media.

The start of the protests was marred by the death of a 63-year-old demonstrator, who was run down by a panicked motorist at a roadblock in the eastern Savoie region.

Several other people were injured in attempts by truck drivers and motorists to force their way through barricades.

A 32-year-old man was sentenced to four months in prison Monday for endangering life by taking part in a human chain on a highway in the northeast of France.

Fresh clashes Sunday in the "yellow vest" fuel price protests across France led to more injuries to add to the more than 400 already reported by Interior Minister Christophe Castaner.

Although the protests appeared to be less widespread than those seen at the 87 locations tallied by the interior ministry overnight, protestors again clashed with police - and sometimes motorists.

Sunday's protests touched several regions across France, but their intensity appeared to be diminishing, according to AFP journalists.

Police were searching for a motorist who forced a road block at Saint-Quentin, northeast France, leaving one protestor seriously injured.

And police used tear gas to break up a gathering of about a thousand protestors near the northern city of Caen, after vandalism of traffic radar and the burning of wooden pallets.

Earlier Sunday, Interior Minister Christophe Castaner reported that the first day and night of protests had left one person dead and more than 400 people hurt, 14 seriously.

The injury toll followed what Castaner described as a "restive" night in 87 locations around the country, where protesters had blocked roads to express their anger at a series of hikes in petrol tax.

The injured, 409 in total, included 28 police, paramilitary police or firefighters.

French retail group Auchan reported violent incidents at around 20 shopping centres where it operates hypermarkets.

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 282 protesters in total, 73 during the night, of whom 157 were taken into custody.

"Last night was restive... There were assaults, fights, stabbings," Castaner said.

"There were fights among 'yellow vest' protesters."

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 Sunday 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.

Prime Minister Edouard Philippe was to appear on national TV Sunday evening to discuss the protests. </s> Demonstrations in France over rising fuel prices have left more than 400 people injured, officials say, as protests spilled into a second day.

The French interior ministry said that nearly 300 protesters were questioned, with 157 among them taken into custody.

Some 288,000 people took part in Saturday’s protests, the ministry said, with scores under way on Sunday.

The demonstrators, known as the “yellow vests”, have been setting up roadblocks across France.

Many turned their anger on President Emmanuel Macron, who they accuse of being out-of-touch. He is yet to comment on the protests, and has seen his popularity slump in polls.

The president came to power last year vowing to overhaul the French economy and argues the hikes are needed to wean the French people off fossil fuels.

The government has announced a number of measures to help poorer families pay their energy and transport bills.

But support for the protests appears broad. Nearly three-quarters of respondents to a poll by the Elabe institute backed the Yellow Vests and 70% wanted the government to reverse the fuel tax hikes. (BBC) </s> Drivers in France are blocking roads across the country to protest rising fuel taxes, in a new challenge to embattled President Emmanuel Macron.

Protesters pledge to target tollbooths, roundabouts and the bypass that rings Paris on Saturday. The government is preparing to send police to remove protesters and threatening fines.

The taxes are part of Macron's strategy of weaning France off fossil fuels. Many drivers see them as emblematic of a presidency seen as disconnected from day-to-day economic difficulties.

The protesters have dubbed themselves the "yellow jackets" because they wear fluorescent vests that all French drivers must keep in their vehicles in case of car troubles.

Separately, ambulances briefly blocked Paris' Champs-Elysees on Friday to protest new rules on ambulance financing and put pressure on Macron's government. </s> French police moved to dislodge protesters blocking roads and fuel depots on Tuesday as the government took a harder line on the so-called “yellow vest” movement against environmental taxes on fuel.

Hundreds of thousands of people blockaded roads across France on Saturday wearing high-visibility yellow vests in a national wave of defiance aimed at centrist President Emmanuel Macron.

The disruption underlined the anger and frustration felt by many motorists, particularly in rural areas or small towns, who are fed up with what they see as Macron’s anti-car policies, including tax hikes on diesel.

Interior Minister Christophe Castaner has instructed police to begin breaking up the remaining roadblocks, particularly those around fuel depots and sites of strategic importance.

“We can see today that there are real excesses from a movement that was for the most part conducted in good spirit on Saturday,” he told France 2 TV.

One person was accidentally killed and 530 people have been injured, 17 seriously, over four days of protests that have come to encompass a wide variety of grievances over the rising cost of living.

Several of the injuries were caused by motorists trying to force their way through roadblocks, but some protesters have also been accused of intimidating people or putting their lives in danger.

A 32-year-old man with a history of violence was given a four-month prison sentence by a Strasbourg court for endangering lives by forming a human chain to cross a motorway.

Elsewhere, four men in the southeastern city of Saint-Etienne were arrested and charged with planning to take advantage of the heavy police deployment at the weekend to mount a terror attack, according to Le Parisien newspaper.

On Tuesday, the movement appeared to be losing steam with only around 10,000 people still manning the barricades nationwide, down from nearly 300,000 on Saturday.

Further protests are planned at the weekend with some calling for a blockade of Paris.

The “yellow vest” movement, which began on social media and has won backing from opposition parties on both the left and right, accuses Macron of squeezing the less well-off while reducing taxes on the rich.

“It’s about much more than fuel. They (the government) have left us with nothing,” Dominique, a 50-year-old unemployed technician told AFP at a roadblock in the town of Martigues, near the southern city of Marseille.

Macron’s government, which is trying to improve its environmental credentials, has vowed not to back down on trying to wean people off their cars through fuel taxes.

The government has unveiled a 500-million-euro package of measures to help low-income households, including energy subsidies and higher scrappage bonuses for the purchase of cleaner vehicles. </s> PARIS: Protesters angry over high fuel prices blocked access to fuel depots and stopped traffic on major roads on Monday with the government refusing to back down on fuel taxes after a weekend of demonstrations across France.

One person was accidentally killed and more than 400 people injured during the “yellow vest” protests which began Saturday with nearly 300,000 participants nationwide.Early Monday, dozens of barricades were still being manned on motorways and roundabouts, far fewer than the more than 2,000 sites on Saturday.

Around 200 trucks were backed up along a road leading to a fuel depot in the western city of Rennes, where some protesters had camped out overnight, an AFP reporter said. Others continued to camp out in supermarket parking lots. “The movement is not exceptional... and obviously isn’t as big as on Saturday,” Laurent Nunez, junior interior minister, told CNews, adding that police would continue to intervene to ensure major roads are not blocked.

But further large-scale protests are already being planned. A call by a member of the rightwing Debout La France (Stand Up France) party for protesters to descend on Paris on Saturday and “block” the city has been viewed over 165,000 times on Facebook. </s> A woman has died during protests against rising petrol and diesel prices and government plans to further hike the tax on vehicle fuel in France.

Another woman driving a car panicked when she encountered a roadblock and ran over a protester, French Interior Minister Christophe Castaner said on Saturday on live television.

The accident took place in the town of Pont-de-Beauvoisin, to the north of the city of Grenoble in south-eastern France, according to the minister.

Drivers started blocking roads across the country to protest rising fuel taxes, in a new challenge to embattled President Emmanuel Macron.

Protesters pledged to target tollbooths, roundabouts and the bypass that rings Paris on Saturday. The government is preparing to send police to remove protesters and threatening fines.

The taxes are part of Macron's strategy of weaning France off fossil fuels. Many drivers see them as emblematic of a presidency seen as disconnected from day-to-day economic difficulties.

The protesters have dubbed themselves the "yellow jackets" because they wear fluorescent vests that all French drivers must keep in their vehicles in case of car troubles.

Separately, ambulances briefly blocked Paris' Champs-Elysees on Friday to protest new rules on ambulance financing and put pressure on Macron's government. </s> Drivers are blocking roads across France to protest against rising fuel taxes, in a new challenge to embattled President Emmanuel Macron.

Drivers are blocking roads across France to protest against rising fuel taxes, in a new challenge to embattled President Emmanuel Macron.

Protesters aim to target tollbooths, roundabouts and the bypass that rings Paris, while the government is preparing to send police to remove protesters and threatening fines.

The taxes are part of Mr Macron’s strategy of weaning France off fossil fuels.

Many drivers see them as emblematic of a presidency disconnected from day-to-day economic difficulties.

The protesters have dubbed themselves the “yellow jackets” because they wear fluorescent vests that all French drivers must keep in their vehicles in case of car troubles.

Separately, ambulances briefly blocked Paris’s Champs-Elysees on Friday to protest against new rules on ambulance financing and put pressure on Mr Macron’s government. </s> PARIS
• A motorist accidentally hit and killed a protester taking part in a campaign of road blockades across France yesterday, as thousands gathered on motorways in a backlash against higher fuel taxes.

The demonstrators, part of a grassroots movement dubbed the "yellow vest" blockade, caused logjams on highways and blocked roundabouts as they railed against the fuel tax hikes introduced by President Emmanuel Macron.

The protests, largely orchestrated on social media and which aimed to prevent road access to some fuel depots and airports, have also drawn broader support from some voters dissatisfied with Mr Macron's economic reforms.

At a blockade on a road in the south-eastern department of Savoie, a driver panicked when protesters surrounded her car and she accelerated, hitting and killing a woman demonstrator, Interior Minister Christophe Castaner said in televised comments.

Sixteen people had light injuries in other accidents across the country, while a person run over by a car in the north was in a critical state, according to the interior ministry.

Some incidents occurred as drivers not taking part tried to get around the blockades, police sources said.

More than 2,000 rallies were taking place across the country, gathering about 124,000 protesters, according to Mr Castaner's second assessment, at midday yesterday.

Protesters gathered at sensitive flashpoints including the entry to a tunnel under the Mont Blanc mountain in the Alps, and traffic was backed up on several highways.

There were also rallies in cities, including Marseille where about 100 people, wearing the high visibility vests drivers keep in their cars, blocked roads around its port.

The backlash is the latest confrontation between Mr Macron and voters, mostly based in the countryside and provincial towns and cities, who view the former investment banker as the representative of a remote urban elite.

During his 18 months in power, Mr Macron, 40, has often pushed through reforms, including an overhaul of indebted state rail operator SNCF, in the face of opposition from labour unions.

But the "yellow vest" movement has snowballed swiftly over the past month, catching Mr Macron and even opposition parties off guard.

It has already prompted a rare concession from the government, which announced earlier in the month fresh funds to help motorists on the lowest incomes.

Taxes account for about 60 per cent of the price at the pump in France.

The higher fuel taxes were approved late last year but started to bite as oil prices surged in October, even though they have since eased off somewhat.

France is trying to end its addiction to diesel. The diesel tax increases are designed to encourage drivers to switch to more environmentally-friendly cars. </s> Police officers advance during a ‘Yellow vest’ protest against higher fuel prices, on the Champs-Elysees in Paris, France, on Saturday (Reuters photo)

PARIS — Police firing tear gas and water cannons clashed with protesters in Paris who are angry over rising fuel costs and President Emmanuel Macron's economic policies, the second weekend of "Yellow vest" protests across France.

A trailer was set on fire and exploded on the Champs-Élysées and a man who tried to attack fire fighters was overpowered by some of the demonstrators themselves. On the nearby Avenue de Friedland, police fired special rubber balls to control demonstrators.

Around 5,000 protesters had converged on the Champs-Élysées where police tried to prevent them from reaching the president's Elysée Palace nearby.

Protesters sang the national anthem and waved French flags while others carried signs with slogans saying "Macron, resignation" and "Macron, thief". Police detained 22 people in Paris and at protests in other parts of the country.

Protesters are opposed to taxes Macron introduced last year on diesel and petrol which are designed to encourage people to switch to cleaner forms of transport. Alongside the tax, the government has offered incentives to buy electric vehicles.

For more than a week, protesters clad in the fluorescent yellow jackets that all motorists in France must have in their cars have blocked highways across the country with burning barricades and convoys of slow-moving trucks, obstructing access to fuel depots, shopping centres and some factories.

Interior Minister Christophe Castaner accused far-right leader Marine Le Pen of fanning the protests in the capital.

"The ultra-right is mobilised and is building barricades on the Champs-Élysées. They are progressively being neutralised and pushed back by police," he said.

In a message on Twitter, Le Pen said she had questioned why no protests were being allowed in the area.

"Today Mr Castaner is using this to target me. This is low and dishonest," she said.

Last Saturday, when nearly 300,000 people took part in the first yellow vest demonstrations countrywide, retailers' daily revenue fell 35 per cent, according to consumer groups.

By 2PM, more than 80,000 demonstrators were protesting across France, including 8,000 in Paris alone, according to figures from the interior ministry

Demonstrators were blocking access to shopping malls in Bollene and Carpentras in southern France while in Dole, in eastern France, a man carrying a weapon was overpowered on a roundabout occupied by demonstrators.

The unrest is a dilemma for Macron who casts himself as a champion against climate change but has been derided as out of touch with common folk and is fighting a slump in popularity.

Despite calls for calm from the government, the yellow vest protests have spread to French territories abroad, including the Indian Ocean island of Reunion, where cars were set on fire.

While the movement, which has no leader, began as a backlash against higher fuel prices, it has tapped into broader frustration at the sense of a squeeze on household spending power under Macron's 18-month-old government.

Since coming to power, Macron has seen off trade union and street demonstrations against his changes to the labour rules, and overhauled the heavily indebted state rail operator. Foreign investors have largely cheered his pro-business administration.

But political foes have dismissed him as the "president of the rich" for ending a wealth tax, and voters appear to be growing restless, with the 40-year-old president's popularity slumped at barely 20 per cent.
France's "Yellow Vest" protests over fuel taxes enter their fourth day as around 10,000 people continue to block roads around the country.