French President Emmanuel Macron Macron tries to take the heat out of mass anti-government protests over taxes | Ian Langsdon/AFP via Getty Images Macron tries to defuse fuel protest with tax tweak President makes first concession to Yellow Jackets movement shaking France.

PARIS — Emmanuel Macron tried on Tuesday to placate protesters who paralyzed swaths of France over a planned gasoline tax hike by pledging to tweak the system for taxing fossil fuels.

Macron's announcement, part of a big speech on energy policy, is his first concession to the Yellow Jackets movement, named after the neon yellow vests worn by protesters. Blockading roundabouts, truck depots, bridges, and even the Champs-Elysées boulevard, the Yellow Jackets have demanded that Macron retreat from a planned fuel tax hike.

Outbreaks of violence and vandalism associated with the movement, which began 10 days ago and intensified over the weekend, have attracted global media coverage and the attention of U.S. President Donald Trump.

"I do not confuse those citizens who want to get across a message with those breaking things," Macron said in his address to France's national ecology committee. Standing before a backdrop marked with the words "Let's Change Together," the president added that his government would "transform anger into solutions."

Announcing the creation of a new "agenda for solutions and protection" to be developed over the next three months, Macron suggested tax increases should take account of oil prices on international markets.

"We must adapt any new tax increase on fossil fuels to the path of international oil markets, so that if prices shoot up again, we will not be in the same situation," Macron said.

Macron said Environment Minister François de Rugy would meet with eight representatives of the grassroots movement Tuesday afternoon, pledging to help craft an "ecology of the people."

According to Le Monde, citing government officials, the tweak would enable a committee, meeting every three months, to suspend part of the gas tax in case of a surge in oil prices. As crude prices have fallen since October, the measure would not affect the planned rises of 6 euro cents per liter on diesel and 3 euro cents on gasoline, still set for rollout in January, the officials said. But it would have prevented a tax rise earlier in the year.

Macron also announced plans to close 14 of France's 58 nuclear reactors by 2035, and confirmed that France would shut down all five of its coal plants by 2022.

Opposition leaders dismissed Macron's response to the fuel tax protest as ineffective.

"To those wondering how to make ends meet in 3 days, Emmanuel Macron answers: come back in 3 months," wrote Marine Le Pen, leader of the far-right National Rally party, on Twitter.

"An hour of presidential noise without a response to the situation of citizens' revolt of the Yellow Jackets," chimed in Jean-Luc Mélenchon, leader of the far-left France Unbowed movement.

After initially linking the Yellow Jackets to "demagogy," Macron has treaded carefully after the movement registered high approval ratings. While government officials, including the prime minister and interior minister, went on the offensive, the president kept quiet. The Twitter-active president avoided posting on the social network or making public comments during the first day of protests.

Ten days later, Macron decided to take the initiative. Apart from his hour-long speech on France's ecological transition, Macron also took up the subject on Twitter, sending off 15 posts within an hour.