Yellow vest protesters have occupied dozens of traffic roundabouts across France even as their movement for economic justice appeared to be losing momentum on the fifth straight weekend of protests.
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The road blockades remained on Sunday despite a call by Interior Minister Christophe Castaner to free the roundabouts from the traffic chaos created by the protests.
Eight people have died in incidents tied to the yellow vest movement, mostly from traffic accidents linked to roads blocked by protesters.
The demonstrators are demanding more measures to help France's workers and retirees, and want top officials in President Emmanuel Macron's centrist government to resign, including Macron himself.
Despite the cold weather, protesters occupying a roundabout near the southern city of Orange close to a major highway pledged to keep holding more demonstrations, including blocking fuel depots.
"Mr Castaner, if you want us to clear roundabouts, you will need to offer your resignation. We don't need bandits of your kind," a protester identified as Nicolas told the BFM TV channel.
Some yellow vest protesters - whose movement takes its name from the safety garb that all French motorists must carry - set up a small fire with wooden planks and held a barbecue at a roundabout near the city of Reims in the Champagne region. Some of them wore Santa hats and deployed a banner that read "Revolution 2018".
On Saturday, yellow vest demonstrators took to the streets in cities across France, including in Paris, but in far fewer numbers than on previous weekends: 69,000 compared with 125,000 a week before. Paris police had to fire tear gas and water cannon across the Champs-Elysees and some protesters scuffled with police.
In an effort to defuse France's social crisis, Macron has announced a series of measures aimed at improving people's spending power.
The package, which includes a 100-euro monthly increase to the minimum wage, might have played a role in deterring protests but did not help improve Macron's popularity. According to an opinion poll published on Sunday by the Le Journal du Dimanche newspaper, Macron's approval rate dipped to 23 per cent in the last month.
Australian Associated Press