(MENAFN- AFP) Protesters angry over high fuel prices blocked access to French fuel depots and stopped traffic on major roads Monday, incensed by the government's refusal to scrap anti-pollution taxes.
One person was accidentally killed and 511 people injured, 17 seriously, during three days of "Yellow Vest" protests that have galvanised resistance to President Emmanuel Macron's economic policies.
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 south-western city of Bordeaux that had been blocked for three days.
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 President Emmanuel 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.
Speaking during a visit to China Environment Minister Francois de Rugy ruled out cancelling planned increases on hydrocarbons "at the first sign of difficulty".
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.
- Gov't stands firm -
Prime Minister Edouard Philippe said Sunday night that the government had heard the protesters anger but would not change course.
Last week, he 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.
But the measures have failed to appease anger over Macron's tax policies, seen as favouring the rich over the working and lower-middle classes.
"I earn 500 euros ($570) a month -- how do you expect me to live on that? With what I earn I can only allow myself one meal a day," said Jean-Luc, a 57-year-old protesting in Calais.
Even some lawmakers in Macron's Republic on the Move (LREM) party are urging the government to do more to help ease fuel and energy costs as winter approaches.
"We need to maintain environmental taxes, (Philippe) is right to reiterate this, but we also need more measures to assist the French, especially the middle classes and the less well off," LREM lawmaker Matthieu Orphelin told RFI radio on Monday.
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