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French police on Tuesday authorized protesters to block roads and fuel depots as part of a crackdown campaign against the "yellow vest" to protest against President Emmanuel Macron, which claimed the lives of two people .
Hundreds of thousands of people blocked roads across France this weekend, wearing high-visibility yellow vests in a wave of national challenge against centrist Macron, 40.
The demonstrations were down on Tuesday, but the disruption underscored the anger and frustration felt by many motorists, especially in rural areas or small towns, tired of what they saw as a government anti-automobile policy, including tax increases on diesel.
Macron, who has made a point of not shrinking from public pressure during his tenure, on Tuesday called for more "dialogue" to better explain his policy.
At the same time, Prime Minister Edouard Philippe urged ruling legislators, Republic On The Move, to be tough on voters' criticism, saying the party would reap the benefits of "constancy and determination."
Two people were killed accidentally and 530 were injured, including 17 seriously, in four days of protests that encompassed a wide variety of grievances related to the rising cost of living.
A 37-year-old motorcyclist died Tuesday of injuries sustained a day earlier after being hit by a truck turning around to avoid a roadblock in the southeastern region of the Drome, a judicial source said.
The other victim was a 63-year-old woman accidentally killed by a panicked driver in eastern Savoy on the first day of protests.
Interior Minister Christophe Castaner has asked the police to dismantle the remaining roadblocks, particularly those located around fuel depots and sites of strategic importance.
"We can see today that there is real excesses of a movement that was generally conducted in good faith on Saturday," he told France 2.
The ministry said about twenty "strategic" sites and fuel depots in several areas had been cleared of protesters on Tuesday.
Some intransigents have maintained blockages and slowdowns at some tolls, highway junctions and roundabouts.
"The movement is not going to run out of steam," said Olivier Garrigues, a farm worker at a protest in the south of the country. "There are fewer people because everyone works, but we are organized."
Many of the injuries were caused by motorists trying to make their way through roadblocks. Some protesters have also been accused of intimidating and endangering motorists.
A 32-year-old man with a history of violence was sentenced to four months in prison by a Strasbourg court for endangering his life by participating in a human chain crossing a highway.
Demonstrations also broke out in Reunion Island, an island in the French overseas territories in the Indian Ocean, where authorities have introduced a partial curfew in some neighborhoods after a night of violence.
– & # 39; Much more than fuel & # 39; –
AFP judicial sources on Tuesday denied reports that a group of men arrested earlier this month in Saint-Etienne, suspected of planning an attack, had planned to strike. during the demonstrations against fuel, which took place on Saturday.
On Tuesday, the "yellow vests" seemed to be losing steam, with only a fraction of the 300,000 people guarding the barricades on Saturday still camp in freezing cold.
Other events are scheduled for the weekend, some calling for a blockade of Paris.
The popular movement, which has won the support of the left and right opposition parties as well as the majority of people polled in opinion polls, accuses Macron of coercing the less fortunate while reducing the taxes of the rich.
"It is only fuel that they (the government) have left us nothing," said AFP Dominique, a 50-year-old unemployed technician, at a news conference. roadblock at Martigues, near Marseille.
The Macron government, seeking to improve its environmental skills, has made a commitment not to let people out of their cars through fuel taxes.
The government unveiled a package of aid packages of 500 million euros to help low-income households, including energy subsidies and higher scrap incentives for the purchase of more vehicles. own.
burs-cb / adp / pma / mlr
The "Yellow Vest" movement gets its name from high-visibility vests that engine manufacturers are required to carry in their cars
Two separate calls to mass demonstrations in Paris on November 24 were widely broadcast on social media
