PARIS (AP) — Facing exceptional protests, French President Emmanuel Macron is promising to speed up tax relief for struggling workers and to scrap a tax hike for retirees.

The actions were the pledges Macron made on Monday night in his first public comments since protests against his presidency devolved into rioting in the French capital.

The French leader reiterated earlier promises to raise the minimum wage and pledged to abolish taxes on overtime pay starting Jan. 1, several months before schedule.

He also said a tax hike pensioners faced would be scrapped.

All of the measures offered had been demanded by the yellow-vested protesters who have led four weeks of increasingly radicalized demonstrations against Macron’s presidency, seen as favoring the rich.

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