Yellow vest protests mark 24th week despite Macron's pledges

Yellow vest protests are taking place in France's main cities for the 24th consecutive week to challenge economic policies that President Emmanuel Macron stood by while unveiling measures intended to quell the anti-government movement.

In Paris, a few thousand people participated in two peaceful demonstrations on Saturday. 

Veterans of the protests, which have been running for six months now, led off the Paris march, organised by the militant CGT union.

But in a new development, many senior figures from the radical left marched with them, including Jean-Luc Melenchon, the leader of France Unbowed and one of Macron's most vocal critics.

In the eastern city of Strasbourg, near the German border, police used tear gas to stop a crowd heading toward the European Parliament building.

In his response to the movement, Macron announced tax cuts for middle-class workers and plans to close France's elite college for top civil servants and politicians.

But he said he would keep pushing pro-business policies opposed by protesters who criticise Macron for his alleged favouring of the wealthy and are demanding wage and pension increases.

Disappointed by Macron's plans

Thierry-Paul Valette, the founder of a group called Yellow Vests Citizens and one of the organisers of the movement, said on Friday that Emmanuel Macron failed to deliver on the protesters demands.

"We have not received satisfaction, therefore, we will continue the movement," Valette said.

Valette also criticised Macron's personality labelling him as "brutal" and "stubborn."

'Too little, too late'

For many within the yellow vest movement, Macron's reforms were simply too little, too late.

In Aubagne near Marseille, a dozen or so protesters angrily rejected his speech, denouncing the reforms as "stupid trivial measures" which they said showed he had "not listened to the people's demands".

"He's taking us for idiots, it's a load of crap," fumed Jean-Luc, a shopkeeper who said he had "had enough of seeing elderly people rummaging through dustbins".

And he was also fed up "with rich people thinking they could teach (the protesters) a lesson".

Priscillia Ludosky, a key figure in the movement, simply tweeted the dates of the next seven Saturdays, each marked with the word: "demo".

In saying he would continue with his reform programme and even step up the pace, Macron had "stuck his fingers up at the yellow vests" said Sebastian Chenu, spokesman for the far-right National Rally.

Plans to increase diesel prices and raise taxes on pensions provided the spark that initially triggered the protests in rural France in November, which quickly ballooned into a full-scale anti-government rebellion.

A poll carried out for Le Figaro newspaper found that 63 percent of people found Macron unconvincing and 80 percent thought the "yellow vest" protests would continue.