PARIS — Pressure mounted on French President Emmanuel Macron to announce concrete measures to calm protests marked by violence when he addresses the nation Monday evening, and breaks a long silence widely seen as aggravating a crisis that has shaken the government and the whole country.

The president will consult in the morning with an array of national and local officials as he tries to get a handle on the ballooning and radicalizing protest movement triggered by anger at his policies, and a growing sense that they favor the rich.

Government spokesman Benjamin Griveaux said on LCI TV he was “sure (Macron) will know how to find the path to the hearts of the French, speak to their hearts.” But, he added, a “magic wand” won’t solve all the problems of the protesters.

Last week, Macron withdrew a fuel tax hike – the issue that kicked off protests in mid-November – in an effort to appease the protesters, but the move was seen as too little too late.

For many protesters, Macron himself, widely seen as arrogant and disconnected from rank-and-file French, has become the problem.

Calls for him to resign were rampant on Saturday, the fourth weekend of large-scale protests.

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“Macron is there for the rich, not for all the French,” 68-year-old retiree Jean-Pierre Meunuer said Saturday. Retirees are among the categories to be punished by his policies.

Labor Minister Muriel Penicaud dampened any notion that the minimum wage would be raised, telling LCI that “there will be no boost for the Smic (minimum wage),” because “it destroys jobs.”

Paris tourist sites reopened Sunday, while workers cleaned up debris from protests that left widespread damage in the capital and elsewhere. At least 71 were injured in Paris on Saturday.

Nearly 1,000 people, almost 100 of them minors and most without police records, were being held in custody after the Saturday protests, Paris chief prosecutor Remy Heitz said. Most were taken in for carrying weapons, like knives, or objects that could be used to cause injury, including petanque balls or tear gas, he said.

France deployed around 89,000 police but still failed to deter the determined protesters.


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