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 centers and some factories.
They are opposed to taxes Macron introduced last year on diesel and petrol to encourage people to shift to more environmentally friendly transport.
Alongside the tax, the government has offered incentives to buy green or electric vehicles. Last Saturday, when nearly 300,000 people took part in the first yellow vest demonstrations countrywide, retailers’ daily revenue fell 35 percent, according to consumer groups.