PARIS (Dispatches) – Three candles on a “season 3” sign to celebrate the 3rd anniversary of the movement, several hundred Yellow Vests demonstrated Saturday afternoon in Paris, between Bercy and Alésia.
The taxes, the small pensions, the disconnection between the politicians and the daily life of the French are the issues that took them to the streets.
The movement marks its third anniversary, as the first Yellow Vests rallies were held in November 2018, in response to fuel tax hikes proposed by the government. The protests became a nationwide movement against economic injustice and police brutality in France.
Over time, the demonstrations turned into a revolt amid anger against the administration of President Emmanuel Macron, quickly making their way to global headlines.
Starting with nearly 300,000 people in Paris, the protests devolved into violence on a scale unprecedented in recent years. The streets of Paris and various other cities witnessed clashes between police and protesters, amid scenes of burning vehicles and various other items.
Especially in the first two years of the demonstrations, French police violence against protesters and journalists occurred on numerous occasions.
The yellow vests were not able to hold demonstrations last year due to COVID-19 restrictions, but weekly Saturday protests gathered in recent months though participation was scant despite wide use of social media.
According to a survey released on Wednesday, 40% of respondents said they felt close to the Yellow Vest movement. In the first months of the demonstrations, this rate was 80%.
Jerome Rodrigues, one of the Yellow Vests’ leaders, invited French people to participate in demonstrations across the country on Saturday.
Rodrigues, who was injured in the eye due to rubber bullet fired by police, pointed out that the Yellow Vest movement erupted due to an increase in fuel prices, adding that prices were 20% higher today than they were in 2018.
Thus, people need to take to the streets more, he said, underlining that the economic problems faced by the French are no longer limited to fuel prices.