France fuel tax protests Ends With One Dead and 47 Injured.
A woman has died and several others are reported injured as demonstrators block roads across France in protest against rising fuel taxes.
The protester was struck on Saturday after a motorist panicked when she saw the demonstration barring the way and accelerated, reports said.
Some 50,000 protesters are taking part in more than 1,000 demonstrations, Le Parisen reports.
The woman was killed in the south-eastern Savoy region, Interior Minister Christophe Castaner and the local prefect said in televised comments.
The demonstrators are trying to block motorways as well as access to fuel depots in a grassroots movement dubbed the “yellow vests” that began as a backlash against the higher fuel taxes introduced by President Emmanuel Macron.
Protesters aim to target tollbooths, roundabouts and the bypass that rings Paris, while the government is preparing to send police to remove protesters and threatening fines.
The taxes are part of Mr Macron’s strategy of weaning France off fossil fuels.
Many drivers see them as emblematic of a presidency disconnected from day-to-day economic difficulties.
The protesters have dubbed themselves the “yellow jackets” because they wear fluorescent vests that all French drivers must keep in their vehicles in case of car troubles.
Separately, ambulances briefly blocked Paris’s Champs-Elysees on Friday to protest against new rules on ambulance financing and put pressure on Mr Macron’s government.
