Yellow Vests protests not comprehensible: Macron

Bloomberg

French President Emmanuel Macron said that grassroots Yellow Vests protests are no longer comprehensible and that “the country needs a return to calm.”
“I hope that the weeks to come will show a decline” in the Yellow Vests movement, Macron said in Bordeaux. He spoke during a session that was part of a series of national public debates he set up to help address the protests, which have disrupted the country’s economy and politics since mid-November.
Some Yellow Vests members plan to stage new protests on Saturday in Paris and elsewhere for the 16th week in a row.
Macron has ruled out banning protests or declaring a state of emergency, even though the protests have regularly degenerated into evening riots and some downtown areas have been ransacked by radical activists. The movement began as a protest against higher gasoline taxes. It has since morphed to include a series of disparate grievances against higher taxes, falling purchasing power and deteriorating public services, among others.
In response, Macron has so far announced 10 billion euros of budget giveaways, including a boost to the minimum wage, and in January launched the series of debates at which he made today’s comments. More than 75% of French people initially supported the Yellow Vests,
according to opinion polls.