'Yellow vest' protests against Emmanuel Macron snarl traffic across France

Police say 47 people have been injured across France as demonstrators hit the streets in protest at gas price increases.

The protester was killed when a driver caught in traffic accelerated in a panic at Pont-de-Beauvoisin, near Chambery, said Louis Laugier, the top state official in the eastern Savoie region.

According to the French Ministry of Internal Affairs, about 1,000 protests are now underway, in which 50,000 people are taking part across the country.

Drivers in France are protesting rising fuel taxes by blocking roads across the country. Officials said 24 people have been detained and 17 held for questioning.

An estimated 50,000 demonstrators were participating in the protests, and some incidents occurred as drivers not taking part tried to get around the blockades, police sources said.

"This isn't just about fuel prices, this is about President Macron and his government and also this feeling of a division between what many describe as the urban elite, represented by President Macron, and ordinary working people". In the northern town of Hazebrouck, a lorry driver mounted a pavement and injured two protesters.

Protesters pledged to target tollbooths, roundabouts and the bypass that rings Paris on Saturday.

The government sent in police to monitor tens of thousands of gathering points, some non-declared in advance and therefore illegal. "There are too many taxes in this country", he told The Associated Press.

Named for the high-visibility jackets worn by the protesters, the "yellow vests" say they are being squeezed by years of fuel tax increases that have driven prices to levels not seen since the early 2000s.

The taxes they are angry about are part of President Emmanuel Macron's strategy to move France away from fossil fuels.

"We've had enough of it".