Who are the leaders of the Yellow Vests? From Benjamin Cauchy to Eric Drouet

THEIR violent protests have won some concessions from a battle-weary president, including a rise in the minimum wage, yet Yellow Vest protesters refuse to halt their demonstrations.

Following weeks of action in French streets, who are the self-proclaimed gilets jaunes leaders of the movement that has become a thorn in President Macron's side?

Who are the leaders of the Yellow Vests?

It's a leaderless movement of mainly rural working people, which sprang up in November and ballooned early in December with riots in Paris and other cities.

While no one clear leader has come to the fore, some rabble-rousers have risen above the rest.

For example, Eric Drouet, who was arrested by riot cops on January 2 while trying to lay flowers and light candles in memory of ten people killed during explosive demonstrations.

Considered one of the leading public figures of the protests, as he has spoken on behalf of demonstrators and discussed the movement on social media, it was the second time he had been arrested.

Video footage of the lorry driver showed him surrounded by armed officers in helmets and being bundled into a van.

He was placed in custody for allegedly organising a protest in central Paris without declaring it, before being freed again on January 3.

Drouet has been on bail while awaiting trial for "carrying a prohibited category D weapon", a baton, after first being arrested on December 22.

Another figurehead, Benjamin Cauchy, had initially appeared as one of the self-appointed front men for the protest groups - but he has since left the movement.

Cauchy splintered off from the Yellow Vests to form the yellow lemons, or citron jaunes.

His announcement surprised everyone involved as he was one of the main figures in the movement.

Another leader, Parisian Yellow Vest coordinator Thierry Paul Valette, told The Associated Press in early December that protesters are unhappy not just about the price of fuel but harbour general discontent about economic inequality.

Back then, he correctly predicted that while "half of the yellow vests will go home, the other half will want Macron to resign and will stay in the streets, because the movement isn't controllable".

This has been borne out, as while the number of protesters hitting the streets has dropped, the demonstrations have continued, damaging holiday retail sales, and concerning tourists and foreign investors.

Who are the Yellow Vests?

The Yellow Vest movement is led by protesters wearing the distinctive fluorescent roadside safety vests or high-visibility vests used by motorists.

They are known as gilets jaunes in French.

It sprang up in rural France in November and peaked early in December, extending beyond Paris to other big French cities.

So far, ten people have been killed and hundreds injured in clashes or accidents stemming from the protests,which has involved setting up roadblocks, setting vehicles alight and setting off flares in the street.

Efforts to contain them have resulted in a heavy police presence at protests over the past month, with some rioters struck by rubber bullets and water cannon deployed to disperse them.

Riot police were overrun during the first weekend in December as protesters wrought havoc in Paris's wealthiest neighbourhoods.

What were their demands and how has Macron responded?

At the start, there were calls to roll back President Macron’s tax cuts for the wealthy, scrap new fuel taxes, and raise the minimum wage.

Although he has caved in somewhat to the pressure, President Emmanuel Macron, who was elected in May 2017, has unveiled no radical changes.

Concessions made on December 10 included a rise in the minimum wage and abandonment of new taxes on diesel.

Macron also promised measures including a government-funded 100-Euro increase in the minimum wage starting at the beginning of this year; abolition of taxes on overtime pay in 2019, and asking profit-making companies to give workers tax-free year-end bonuses.

He slashed a tax hike on small pensions, too, acknowledging it was "unjust."

However, he didn't restore a special tax on households with assets above 1.3million Euros (£1.2m) that he cut last year.

Yellow Vest protesters are still fuming about the end of the tax and want it revived.

Furthermore, there have been continued calls for Macron to resign.

Benjamin Cauchy said: "It's more of a budgetary adjustment than a change of political course. That doesn't correspond to what the French want."