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Buenos Aires (AFP)

Heading to a G20 summit, French President Emmanuel Macron may have hoped for some respite from swelling protests at home that have adopted yellow vests as their emblem.

But as he got off his plane in Buenos Aires on Wednesday, the very first person he saw was clad in just such a hi-viz item -- an airport employee.

The French leader shook the hand of the worker, who opened the airplane door, before a more official greeting on the tarmac to Macron and his wife Brigitte by Argentina's Vice President Gabriela Michetti.

Yellow vests, the highly visible jackets worn by emergency workers, have become an emblem of increasingly forceful protests in France sparked by higher fuel taxes.

Macron is hoping to reduce carbon emissions and face the long-term challenge of climate change, but protesters say low-income families are hit hardest.

© 2018 AFP