IMHO, the Yellow Vests are are just a group of whiny troublemakers, the epitome of the French universal protester who is never happy about anything and tries to blame it all on the government. They are self-deluded, attention-seeking anarchists and rebels who do not really give a damn about their country's well being.
Officially they are mainly demonstrating against the increase in diesel taxes, which aims at making polluting diesel about the same price as the cleaner gasoline. I don't even understand why they are so outraged about this. The aim is to make the air cleaner because
diesel fumes has been blamed for causing many diseases, including a great number of cancers (nose, throat, lung, stomach, kidney, bladder, bone marrow, blood)
and neurological diseases like ALS and dementia. Many big cities around world have already banned (some) diesel or planned to progressively ban it (based on
emission standards) in coming years, including Tokyo, Los Angeles, Mexico, Delhi, Cape Town, London, Paris, Brussels, Berlin, Hamburg, Barcelona, Madrid, Athens, Rome and Milan.
In other words the Yellow Vests are fighting against environmental and health measures to improve quality of life. Their selfish behaviour has already caused millions of euros of physical damages (acts of vandalism against French citizens and shops) while
French retailers have lost about €1 billion due to the decline in restaurant trade.
Personally I think that the French government should be much tougher against these anarchist vandals. It is the government's duty to protect its law-abiding citizens and their properties against rioters, vandals and looters. There should be severe punishments to deter them for causing more damages.