French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe at the French TV channel TF1 studios in Boulogne-Billancourt, near Paris, on January 7, 2019 | Eric Feferberg/AFP via Getty Images France to tighten laws on violent protesters, PM says Those who violently challenge the government ‘will not have the last word,’ Edouard Philippe says.

The French government is considering tougher measures against violent rioters who hijack legitimate protests, possibly mirroring existing laws that identify and ban known football hooligans.

Prime Minister Edouard Philippe, speaking late Monday on TF1, favors cracking down on unsanctioned protests that threaten the freedom to demonstrate, saying a change in police tactics is needed to tackle the changing nature of public demonstrations.

He said the government is considering setting up a register of rioters to force them to report to police and prevent them from joining demonstrations such as the anti-government Yellow Jacket street protests.

Philippe criticized organizers who fail to declare protests in advance, and those who turn up to protests wearing balaclavas, warning that individuals who challenge the government “will not have the last word."

Responding to those who have disrupted Yellow Jacket demonstrations in recent months, Philippe said he has asked the interior ministry to update its strategy on police mobilization and to invest in new riot gear.

Six people have died and hundreds have been injured since the Yellow Jacket protests began in November. The demonstrations started as a protest against a proposed fuel tax hike but morphed into a broader opposition to President Emmanuel Macron and his government's reforms.

The latest Yellow Jacket demonstrations in several cities across France at the weekend began peacefully but again descended into chaos.