Single spark ignites French 'revolution'

Celine Fonarou traveled to Paris from Normandy, about 200 km away, with four friends to join the demonstrations. She said they were protesting against poverty and increased taxes. "Life is difficult, so difficult," she said.

Her view was shared widely by the protesters, a diverse group that feels it has been marginalized by the government's social and economic policies.

The protesters are demanding lower taxes, higher wages, better pensions, easy access to education and the reintroduction of a tax on wealth. Some have even called for Macron's resignation and Citizen-Initiative Referendums, based on the bottom-up model of government in Switzerland.

A study by the French Economic Observatory shows that disposable income fell by 440 euros ($500) on average from 2008 to 2016.

There has been widespread support for the yellow vest movement in French society. Various opinion polls show that 60 to 70 percent of people support the movement but the majority are opposed to the violence being used in Paris and other cities.

In contrast, Macron's approval rating dropped by two percentage points in November to 23 percent, according to a poll by the research group Ifop. The proportion of those who said they were "very dissatisfied" with Macron's leadership rose by six points to 45 percent.

Despite having no leaders, the yellow vest movement snowballed across France when up to 166,000 took to the streets on the second and third weekends of demonstrations, with some clashing with police. Hundreds of injuries and thousands of arrests were reported.

On Dec 4, to appease the protesters, French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe announced a moratorium on diesel fuel price rises. But the move failed to stop 136,000 demonstrators from turning out just four days later.