Thousands of yellow vest protesters disrupted New Year's Eve celebrations with demonstrations, as President Macron addressed the nation on Monday night.
Macron said the French government 'can do better' at improving citizens' lives in his New Year's Eve address as 'yellow vest' protesters again took to the streets across the country.
'We can do better and must do better,' Macron said in a 16-minute televised speech from the Elysee palace while urging the French to 'accept the reality' that increased public spending was not the answer to their problems.
Macron's speech had been keenly awaited, coming at the end of a torrid six weeks for the centrist, whose leadership has been severely rattled by six weeks of demonstrations that have repeatedly turned violent.
On Monday, he attempted to turn the page on the crisis and start 2019 on an upbeat note.
President Macron mobilised thousands of police officers to quell demonstrations on the streets of Paris
A yellow vest protester watches illuminations over the Arc de Triomphe before the New Year's Day celebrations
French police secure the area as revelers begin to gather along the Champs-Elysees
'I believe in us,' he said.
Citing hopes for more 'truth, dignity and hope' in 2019, he urged the French: 'Let's stop running ourselves down and making believe that France is a country where solidarity doesn't exist.'
'We live in one of the biggest economies in the world, with some of the best infrastructure in the world, we pay little or nothing for our children's schooling and we are treated by excellent doctors at some of the lowest costs in the developed world,' he said.
While acknowledging the need for improved public services, particularly in rural areas where the yellow vest movement sprang up over anger at fuel taxes, he noted that public spending already amounted to over half of the country's output.
As he spoke, demonstrators clad in high-visibility yellow vests again gathered in Paris and other big cities to demand more measures in favour of the working poor and a greater say for ordinary people in the running of the country, in the form of citizen-sponsored referendums.
Demonstrators clad in high-visibility yellow vests again gathered in Paris on Monday evening
A group of yellow vest protesters holds a board reading People requires justice
Several dozen protesters joined tens of thousands of tourists gathered on the famous Champs-Elysees avenue in Paris - the scene of pitched battles between protesters and police on several consecutive weekends before Christmas - for a New Year's fireworks display.
In the southwestern city of Bordeaux, dozens of 'yellow vests' occupied a major bridge.
As in Paris, the protesters said they intended the evening to be one of celebration, not of unrest. The protests look set to continue into 2019.
Nearly 150,000 security force members were deployed around the country to keep the peace.
Nearly 150,000 police were on duty around France on New Year's Eve as 'yellow vest' protesters called for another round of anti-government demonstrations.
The French capital was on high alert after repeated clashes over the last month between security forces and the protesters.
French police officers dressed in riot gear stand guard near the Eiffel Tower and on the Champs Elysee yesterday
People march during a 'yellow vest' (gilets jaunes) anti-government demonstration in the northern city of Lille on December 29
The 'yellow vest' movement has waned dramatically in the last fortnight, but the prospect of demonstrators mixing with revellers and tourists in Paris will present a new headache for the stretched Paris police force.
'What can we expect? Disorder,' Interior Minister Christophe Castaner earlier told reporters as he visited a fire station in Paris. 'What I see with the 'yellow vests' is a desire to be harmful, not to demonstrate.'
The 'non-violent and festive' demonstration were organised on Facebook where nearly 9,000 people indicated they planned to attend - less than the 12,000 police on duty in Paris.
France remains on high alert due to the threat of terrorism, with the latest attack dating to December 11 when five people were killed by a gunman at a Christmas market in Strasbourg.
French riot police holding up protective shields covered in yellow paint as they clash with protesters in Toulouse over the weekend
A protestor runs next to burning trash during a yellow vest anti-government demonstration in Nantes
New Year's Eve also sees many French youths from poverty-wracked areas of the country set fire to hundreds of cars in what has become a grim annual tradition that ties up police officers.
The often violent demonstrations about low living standards in provincial France capped a difficult year for the centrist leader, whose approval rating has fallen sharply.
A new poll out on Monday showed that 31 percent of respondents had a positive opinion of Macron, down one point in a month.
Protesters are still campaigning against harsh tax conditions imposed by Emmanuel Macron's government
Protesters walk up stairs as tear gas is fired near the Passy area in Paris on Sunday afternoon
The figure was sharply higher than other polls, however, some of which show him with an approval rating in the low 20s.
The president faced fresh embarrassment on Monday from his disgraced ex-bodyguard who revealed that he continued to exchange messages regularly with the president even after he was forced out of his job in July over a scandal.
Alexandre Benalla caused the most damaging controversy of Macron's presidency after he was caught on video roughing up protesters at a demonstration in May while wearing a police helmet.
Last week it was revealed that, since being sacked from his job, Benalla had travelled widely on a diplomatic passport to meet foreign officials.
President Macron is due to address the nation on New Years Eve to show 'authority and togetherness', his office said, as he looks to start 2019 on a more positive footing
The yellow vests movement in France originally started as a protest about planned fuel hikes but has morphed into a mass protest against President's policies
https://textbacklinkexchanges.com/france-places-150000-police-officers-on-duty-for-new-years-eve-amid-protests/
News Pictures France places 150,000 police officers on duty for New Year’s Eve amid protests
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https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2019/01/01/01/8003474-6542863-image-a-21_1546307285352.jpg
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