Yellow Vest protesters issue 18 demands, including Taoiseach's resignation

Yellow Vest protesters say they will not stop until the Taoiseach has resigned and a general election is called.

The movement, which has held demonstrations in Dublin every Saturday for the past five weeks, has this weekend staged additional protests in towns and cities around the country.

A protest in Dublin in December.

Hundreds took to the streets yesterday in Dublin, Galway, Limerick, Wicklow, Waterford, Donegal and Belfast.

The movement is named after the high-visibility vests – gilets jaunes – that motorists in France must keep in their cars.

It subsequently widened into an expression of broader anti-establishment sentiment in both France and elsewhere in Europe.

The Yellow Vest Ireland group says it has 18 demands, which covers issues ranging from the CervicalCheck scandal and mortgage debt to medicinal cannabis and vulture funds.

Meanwhile, French police used tear gas and water cannon as thousands of yellow vest protesters marched through Paris yesterday and other cities for a ninth straight weekend to denounce President Emmanuel Macron’s economic policies.

Digital Desk, with additional reporting from PA