France to crack down on protests

PARIS, Jan 08 (BBC): French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe has announced plans to punish people who hold unsanctioned protests after seven weeks of anti-government unrest.
His government wants to draft new legislation that will ban troublemakers from protests and clamp down on the wearing of masks at demonstrations.
He said 80,000 members of the security forces would be deployed for the next expected wave of protests.
Protesters smashed down the gates to a government office this weekend.
In other chaotic scenes in Paris, demonstrators fought riot police, and cars and motorbikes were burnt.
Protests against fuel tax erupted on 17 November when people across France donned high-visibility vests, giving them their nickname the "gilets jaunes" ("yellow vests"), and went out to disrupt traffic.
Similar actions have followed every weekend and while the number of demonstrators has dropped, cities across France continue to see rioting and disruption.
At least six people have died and at least 1,400 have been injured as a result of the unrest.
Speaking on French TV channel TF1, Prime Minister Philippe said the government would support a "new law punishing those who do not respect the requirement to declare (protests).