A jacket-less French President taking part in a public debate this month | Ludovic Marin/AFP via Getty Images Macron calls for ‘strong decisions’ after violent Yellow Jacket protests French president cuts short ski trip to return to Paris.

French President Emmanuel Macron said he intends to take “strong decisions” to end the Yellow Jacket protests following violent demonstrations in the French capital Saturday.

The protests marked the 18th demonstration by the Yellow Jackets’ movement in Paris, timed to coincide with the end of a two-month public debate exercise launched by Macron. Protesters vandalized shops and restaurants on the Champs-Elysées as police sought to break up the protests with water canons.

“I want strong decisions to be made as soon as possible so that this does not happen again,” Macron tweeted late Saturday. "A lot has been done since November," but the renewed protests "shows that on these subjects we are not there," he said.

Interrupting a ski trip with his wife in the south of France to return to Paris, the French president condemned the violent clashes, lootings and fires.

“What happened today on the Champs-Élysées is no longer called a demonstration. These are people who want to destroy the Republic, at the risk of killing. Everyone who was there was complicit in this," he said in another tweet.

French Interior Minister Christophe Castaner said Saturday that a number of the protestors were “ultra violent people who are there just to smash things up, to fight.”

The protests began in response to a planned rise in fuel prices but has spiraled into a wider offense against Macron’s government.

The "Great Debate" exercise, which ended Friday, saw the president travel around the country to speak to communities about their concerns.