French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe will reportedly freeze a controversial tax hike on Tuesday which sparked deadly riots across Paris, and protests nationwide.
Philippe will enforce a "moratorium" for several months, French media outlet Le Monde reported, potentially bringing a temporary calm to violence caused by the Yellow Vest movement across the country's capital.
He met legislators at the National Assembly on Monday in Paris to outline his proposal, with the report saying he will announce the tax freeze publicly at midday local time.
The concession gives way to the movement, known in French as "Des Gilets Jaunes," who orchestrated their third consecutive protest in Paris on Saturday.
The group say that the tax is unfair to rural and poor people and that Macron's government is abandoning them.
More than 36,000 people protested on Saturday across France, with 5,000 of those in Paris, where a riot against police ended in 412 arrests, according to authorities.
The cost of the rioting — the worst in Paris since 1968 — could reportedly be in the hundreds of millions of euros.
On Monday, Philippe scrambled to end the crisis by meeting with opposition party leaders in Paris, Reuters reported .
France's president, Emmanuel Macron, reportedly called a meeting with Philippe after returning from the G20 summit. Reuters said he told Philippe to meet with the Yellow Vests on Tuesday to hear out their demands.
However, the group cancelled the Tuesday meeting, caused by hardline protesters within the movement sending death threats to their own members for even thinking of negotiating.
Macron has argued that the fuel tax will combat climate change, and as recently as Saturday said that he would not deviate from his policy goals, Reuters said. It is unclear how the decision to freeze the tax fits that narrative.
Their decision wear wear yellow high-visibility vests is a direct reference to French traffic laws, which instructs everybody to carry a yellow vest in their vehicle, and has been in force since 2008.
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