Macron calls for order after 'yellow vests' attack on police

PARIS - French President Emmanuel Macron called for "order" on Sunday after a sixth weekend of "yellow vests" anti-government protests that saw dwindling participation and a violent attack on police in Paris.

Speaking during a visit to the Saharan state of Chad where he was visiting French troops serving in a counterterrorism force, Macron said: "There must be order now, calm and harmony. Our country needs it."

"It needs harmony, unity, sincere commitment to strong collective causes and we must heal the divisions," said the 41-year-old centrist, who has struggled to tamp down the anger of the working poor in small-town and rural France over falling spending power and policies seen as tilted toward the rich.

Nearly 40,000 people took part in a sixth round of nationwide protests on Saturday, according to the interior ministry-around half the number who demonstrated a week earlier.

In Paris, the scene of fierce clashes and widespread destruction in previous weeks, the protests were mainly peaceful.

But as evening fell, violence broke out again on the iconic Champs Elysees avenue.

In one incident that caused widespread outrage, three police officers on motorbikes were forced to make a hasty escape after coming under attack near the Champs Elysees from demonstrators who threw paving stones and other objects at them.

A video of the incident, which was widely shared on social media, showed one officer pulling his gun and pointing it at the advancing protesters.

He and his two colleagues-one of whom had his motorbike knocked to the ground-then made their getaway.

The video showed that, seconds before the attack, the police had lobbed stun grenades at a group of protesters, who were some distance away.

Speaking to the BFMTV channel, Macron said those responsible for the violence would face "the most severe" legal punishment.

Prime Minister Edouard Philippe for his part denounced the "incredible violence toward the police".

He also took aim at protesters who sang a song by controversial comedian Dieudonne M'Bala M'Bala, a convicted anti-Semite, outside Sacre-Coeur church in Paris, as well as those who decapitated an effigy of Macron in the western Charente region-two other incidents seen as evidence of growing radicalization and the presence of extremists within the movement.

"There can be no trivializing of such gestures which must draw unanimous condemnation and be punished by the law," Philippe tweeted.

The number of demonstrators has been trending downward since 282,000 people turned out for the first Saturday protest against planned antipollution fuel tax hikes on Nov 17.

From there the protests quickly morphed into a full-scale revolt against Macron's policies, his aloof, top-down governing style, and the political class as a whole.

Last week, Macron sought to defuse the crisis by announcing a 10 billion euro ($11.4 billion) package of measures to help pensioners and low-paid workers.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE