Dr Oliver Davis, Reader in French Studies at the University of Warwick comments on President Macron and the 'gilets jaunes'.

"Emmanuel Macron and his government may be hoping that the violent scenes in Paris over the weekend will tarnish the gilets jaunes - 'the yellow vests' - in the eyes of the wider population but they are unlikely to have much impact on the astonishing levels of support for the movement.

"As with the Brexit Leave Vote in the UK, there are many other issues in play beyond fuel taxes: opposition to these is just the tip of an iceberg of popular discontent with a government headed by a former investment banker who is increasingly perceived as a president for the rich. If Macron’s pop-up party can be understood as a political coalescence of comfortable middle-class interest, then the gilets jaunes are a corresponding coalescence of working and lower-middle-class interest."

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