French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe has announced a six-month moratorium on petrol and diesel tax hikes, after increasingly angry protests across the country in recent weeks.

Planned rises in electricity and gas prices and plans to tighten safety checks on vehicles will also be suspended while a national consultation process takes place, Philippe said on Tuesday.

Protesters wearing yellow high-visibility tops have blocked roads across France since mid-November in protest at the planned fuel rises, and the last two weekends have seen demonstrations in Paris turn violent.

No tax rise "can be worth putting the unity of the nation at risk," Philippe said, announcing the measures in a brief televised address.