PARIS: President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday vowed to press ahead with his government's programme to transform France, adding public order must be restored after months of protests.
"The transformations that are in progress and the transformations that are essential for our country should not be stopped," Macron said in his first solo news conference at the Elysee Palace.
He vowed that after almost half a year of sometimes violent "yellow vest" protests against his rule, "today, above all, public order will return and with it an essential accord" in French society.
Macron recognised that the yellow vest movement had led to many in France feeling "anger and impatience for change" and praised its "just demands".
But he lamented that the movement had "transformed progressively" and been hijacked partly by episodes of anti-Semitic violence, attacks on journalists and homophobia.
"But I don't want that the actions of some people eclipse the just demands that were put forward at the start of this movement and were broadly supported," he said.
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