France to toughen protest laws to prevent further violence

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.

He spoke after rioters torched motorbikes and set barricades ablaze on Paris's upmarket Boulevard Saint-Germain on Saturday, underscoring how protests against high living costs and President Emmanuel Macron have turned violent on the fringes.

"We need to preserve the right to demonstrate in France and we must sanction those who break the law," Philippe told TF1 television.

"That's why the government favours updating the law in order to sanction those who do not respect this obligation to declare protests, those who take part in undeclared protests, those who arrive at protests with balaclavas," Philippe said.

He said the government could model the new law on existing legislation against football hooligans whereby individuals can be banned from stadiums. It could be introduced as soon as February, he said.

Philippe also said the "casseurs," or thugs, who have brought disruption and destruction to Paris and other major cities where shops have been looted and banks vandalized would be forced to pay for the damage they cause.

The latest "yellow vest" marches began peacefully but degenerated on Saturday afternoon as protesters threw missiles at riot police blocking bridges over the Seine.

Officers fired tear gas to prevent protesters crossing the river and reaching the National Assembly. One riverboat restaurant was set ablaze and a policeman was wounded when he was hit by a bicycle hurled from a street above the river bank.

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.