France may declare emergency to stop more riots over fuel prices: Official

French authorities were caught off guard by the escalation in violence after two weeks of nationwide protests against fuel taxes and living costs, known as the 'yellow vest' movement

France will consider imposing a state of emergency to prevent a recurrence of some of the worst civil unrest in more than a decade and urged peaceful protesters to come to the negotiating table, government spokesman Benjamin Griveaux said on Sunday. 

Groups of young men with faces masked, some carrying metal bars and axes, rioted on the streets of central Paris on Saturday, setting a dozen vehicles ablaze and torching buildings.

"We have to think about the measures that can be taken so that these incidents don't happen again," Griveaux told Europe 1 radio.

The authorities were caught off guard by the escalation