French President Emmanuel Macron has backed down on an unpopular fuel tax in the face of unyielding popular anger and mass demonstrations across the country.

But Macron used his prime minister Edouard Philippe to make the announcement on national TV, Tuesday adding to speculation the concessions announced by Philippe may not satisfy protesters.

On Monday, French students and paramedics joined the fray, clashing with riot police in Paris, while lines of ambulances sought to block access to the National Assembly.

A survey by French broadcaster RTL shows widespread support for the action, but not of the violence and polling shows support for Macron is now below 30%.

French President Emmanuel Macron was taken to the Arc de Triomphe on Sunday, the scene of the worst violence, upon his return from the G20 summit in Argentina.

The protests are politically non-aligned but share a solidarity in fury against Macron's policies, which they feel only benefit the rich.

The violence has receded for the moment, but the fury remains after French President Emmanuel Macron made a retreat on Tuesday, in the face of what became overwhelming public demonstrations.

Only after three weeks of nationwide protests, many turning violent — as seen by the carnage wrought upon Paris over the weekend — did Macron take action.

On Tuesday, Macron was forced into a the "grand conciliatory gesture" that minister for culture Franck Riester said would follow in the days after the weekend violence.

However, he left his prime minister Edouard Philippe to make the announcement on national television and attempt to placate the gilets jaune or "yellow vests."

Philippe announced on live television a raft of walk-backs headlined by a six month moratorium on previously looming fuel taxes that triggered the rolling protests in the first place.

Philippe also announced no more hikes in many utility bills including electricity and natural gas, until May next year, AFP reported.

According to France 24, the feeling from protestors on the streets from Bordeaux to Paris may be that Macron's so called "grande geste" will be too little, too late.

“This anger, you’d have to be deaf or blind not to see it or hear it...”

"The French who have donned these yellow vests want taxes to fall and work to pay," Philippe said. "That’s also what we want. If I didn’t manage to explain this well, if the ruling majority didn’t manage to convince the French, then something must change."

"No tax is worth putting the nation's unity in danger," Philippe said, just days after a defiant Macron had said the "yellow shirts" had only "shamed" France.

4 dead, hundreds injured, 412 arrested in Paris alone.

The violence that ensued, especially over the weekend in Paris, in Nantes, in Bordeaux and Marseille, left an elderly woman dead and the nation reeling from the what many called the worst rioting in 50 years.

The 80-year-old from the southern French city of Marseille was struck by a tear gas canister as she was closing window shutters, during a third straight weekend of protests against the rising costs of living, which many blame on Macron.

A survey this week by Radio RTL shows that 72% per cent of French citizens support the protests (although 82% said they abhor the violence).

Those numbers stand in pretty dire contrast to Macron's own approval rating as president, which is already under 30% and has not stopped falling since the protests began on November 14.

Four are now dead and more than 260 have been wounded, police say.

There are More than 400 have been arrested amid what many believe is the worst civil unrest in France for a generation.

The Prefect of Police, the police unit attached to the Ministry of the Interior, said that 37 000 police officers, 30,000 gendarmes - military police, and 30,000 firefighters have been mobilized throughout the country.

Worst violence in 50 years

On Monday, French paramedics joined the fray, clashing with riot police in Paris.

The ambulances formed a convoy and cordoned off the bridge to the National Assembly, over the river Seine leading to the iconic symbol of the French revolution.

Drivers and paramedics reportedly clashed with lines of riot police both outside the National Assembly and at the Place de la Concorde.

Reuters reports that French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe met with opposition leaders on Monday, but an unsatisfied Laurent Wauquiez, leader of the centre-right Les Republicains party, accused the government of Emmanuel Macron of totally misreading the fury raging across France.

"The one decision every Frenchman is waiting for: scrapping (fuel) tax hikes,” Wauquiez said.

But the protests that began over the rising price of fuel have morphed into a broad coalition of disparate sectors of French society, sharing a common anger at higher living costs.

By Monday, Central European Time (CET) the protests had spread to around a hundred schools nationwide, AFP reports, as students joined the broader protests to express their own frustrations from weakening job prospects to newly implemented university entrance requirements.

In Nice, almost 1,000 students chanted "Macron resign!" and according to AFP reporter at the scene, many have taken to wearing the Gilets jaune or fluorescent high-visibility "yellow vests" that have given the growing movement its name.

The high-visibility vests are required to be carried in every vehicle by French law.

PARIS, FRANCE - DECEMBER 01: Yellow vest protesters clash with riot police as part of demonstration against rising fuel taxes near Arc de Triomphe de l'Etoile in Paris, France on December 01, 2018. ELYXANDRO CEGARRA/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

Even on the French Caribbean island of Reunion, local media reported protests met by tear gas and riot police.

Upon his return from the G20 summit in Argentina, Macron was taken to the Arc de Triomphe on Sunday, the scene of the worst violence over the weekend.

Demonstrators had earlier written in graffiti on the historic Paris monument: "We have the right to revolt," "Macron resign," and “The yellow vests will triumph!”

According to Radio Europe 1 several dozens of cars were torched, buildings set aflame, and shop windows smashed while riot-gear clad officers set up a perimeter and began firing tear gas and water cannons into the crowds.

PARIS, FRANCE - DECEMBER 01: A vandalizes statue of the Marianne, a symbol in France, seen inside the Arc de Triomphe, as protesters wearing yellow vests (gilets jaunes) entered the Arc de Triomphe monument during clashes with riot police as part of a demonstration over high fuel prices on the Champs Elysee in Paris, France, 01 December 2018. ELYXANDRO CEGARRA/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

The statue of the Marianne, a symbol of French freedom and Resistance was reportedly hacked at and vandalized by the gilets jaunes who entered the Arc de Triomphe monument during clashes with police.

Reuters has reported mass tourism cancellations, while the biggest and brightest French brands on the stock market began to tank as investors fled names like supermarket giant Carrefour, hotel chain Accor, and the national carrier Air France.

It is thought the cost of the rioting, the worst in Paris since 1968, may already be in the hundreds of millions of euros.

Finance Minister Bruno Le Marie, told the Associated Press that "the impact on the French economy was serious," adding that parts of the French economy have already taken a hit with sales in some sectors falling away between 15 to 25%.