Seventeen people were arrested early on Tuesday after “yellow vest” protesters burnt down a motorway toll station in Bandol, southern France, overnight.

Marie, one of about 50 “yellow vests” at the toll station, which had been occupied by protesters for about a month, told French radio: “Macron doesn’t understand the soft way. That’s why we’re doing it the hard way.”

Across the country police began clearing roadblocks manned by protesters.

There was little resistance as the “yellow vests” were heavily outnumbered, but in Brittany demonstrators furious at being evicted from a makeshift camp on a roundabout went on to block two lanes of a nearby motorway.

Julien, a protester, said: “Police moved us off the roundabout but this isn’t the end of the movement.”

Many “yellow vests” voiced anger that the motorway operator, the Vinci company, is demanding toll payment from millions of motorists who drove through while they were occupied.

Their number plates were automatically photographed, but François de Rugy, the environment minister, said it would be difficult for Vinci to collect the money.