French Prime
Minister Edouard Philippe has announced plans to punish people who hold
unsanctioned protests after seven weeks of anti-government unrest.
His
government wants to draft new legislation that will ban troublemakers from
protests and clamp down on the wearing of masks at demonstrations.
A seventh
weekend of protests saw protesters smash down the gates to a government office
in Paris.
Demonstrators
fought riot police, and cars and motorbikes were burnt.
Who are the 'gilets jaunes'?
Protests
against fuel tax erupted on 17 November when people across France donned
high-visibility vests, giving them their nickname the "yellow vests",
and went out to disrupt traffic.
Similar
actions have followed every weekend and while the number of demonstrators has
dropped, cities across France continue to see rioting and disruption.
At least six
people have died and at least 1,400 have been injured as a result of the
unrest.
What
measures does the government plan to take?
Speaking on
French TV channel TF1, Prime Minister Philippe said the government would
support a "new law punishing those who do not respect the requirement to
declare [protests], those who take part in unauthorised demonstrations and
those who arrive at demonstrations wearing face masks".
Known
troublemakers would be banned from taking part in demonstrations, in the same
way known football hooligans have been banned from stadiums.
The onus
would be on "the troublemakers, and not taxpayers, to pay for the damage
caused" to businesses and property during the protests.
France country profile
What began
as anger over green tax on vehicle fuel has grown into more general discontent
with the leadership of President Emmanuel Macron, whom protesters accuse of
favouring the urban elite.
"Those
who question our institutions will not have the last word," Mr Philippe
said on Monday.
He also
announced that 80,000 members of the security forces would be posted nationwide
for the next protests expected this coming weekend, AFP news agency reports.
In a sign
that the government was taking a harder line, police arrested one of the
protest leaders, truck driver Eric Drouet, last week for organising an
unauthorised demonstration in Paris.
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