France wants to clamp down on violent demonstrations after last weekend saw protesters descend on Paris for the eight time in less than two months. Prime Minister Edouard Philippe announced the decision on Monday, saying: “We need to preserve the right to demonstrate in France and we must sanction those who break the law. That’s why the Government favours updating the law in order to sanction those who do not respect this obligation to declare protests, those who take part in undeclared protests, those who arrive at protests with balaclavas.”
Mr Philippe said the new legislation, which could be introduced as soon as next month, may be modelled on existing laws against football hooligans which ban certain hooligans from stadiums.
The Prime Minister added the “casseurs”, French for thugs, who looted and destroyed banks, shops and buildings will be forced to pay for the damages they created.
Some 50,000 people took part in peaceful marches across France on Saturday, but some outburst of violence were sparked in Paris, Nantes and Rouen among other cities.
Some of the demonstrators, wearing the now-iconic bright neon vest French drivers are required to have in their car, even forced their way into a Government ministry compound, torched cars and bikes parked near the Champs Elysee and clashed with riot police officers.
Other protesters threw missiles at police officers and blocked bridges over the Seine.
One riverboat restaurant was set ablaze and a policeman was wounded as a consequence of the clashes in Paris.
The protests erupted on November 17, when hundreds of thousands marched to voice their opposition to the planned fuel tax rise set to be enforced at the beginning of 2019.
But the demonstrations quickly turned into a more widespread complain against Mr Macron’s stringent economic policies.
Ten people have been killed in the unrest, which appears to show no signs of slowing down.
The French President caved to demands in December, announcing he would pull the fuel tax increase and raise minimum wage.
However these measures didn’t please yellow vest demonstrators, who are now calling for the French President’s resignation.
A survey of 1,004 people carried out by Odoxa and Dentsu Consulting for franceinfo and the Figaro newspaper earlier this month showed only 25 percent of the French population would vote for Mr Macron today – a new record-low for the French President who has been running the country for only 20 months.
The two month of unrest have been branded an “economic catastrophe” for France by the country’s Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire.
Mr Le Maire blamed the riots for a drop in growth saying: “The yellow vest crisis has a high economic price.
“I already warned that the crisis would shave 0.1 percentage points off growth in the final quarter [of 2018], and this result is still likely.”