Paris, Nov 17 (IANS): A 50-year-old man taking part in nationwide protests against rising fuel prices in France died on Saturday after he was hit by a car that accelerated through a human roadblock in the country's southeast, Interior Minister Christophe Castaner said.

Castaner said a woman taking her child for medical attention panicked when protesters at the roadblock in Pont-de-Beauvoisin, located some 70 km southeast of Lyon, began striking her car, according to Efe news.

"People hit her car, the driver panicked and she accelerated," the Minister told the press.

She was arrested in a state of shock, he added.

About 40 demonstrators took part in the roadblock protest in Pont-de-Beauvoisin as part of a nationwide movement dubbed the "gilets jaunes" ("yellow vests").

Some 50,000 demonstrators mobilized across the country, Castaner said.

They were calling for the government to end its plan to raise taxes on diesel and petrol by 23 and 15 per cent respectively.

Protests were expected in at least 1,000 locations across France throughout Saturday, including in Paris, where groups of people attempted to block major roads on the outskirts of the capital and -- albeit unsuccessfully -- the iconic Champs-Elysees.

President Emmanuel Macron has defended the fuel tax hike.