New ‘Yellow Vest’ Protests Jolt Macron

Date: 19 January 2019 - 21:38

News ID: ۶۲۲۴۰

PARIS (AFP) -- France's "yellow vests" took to the streets on Saturday for a 10th straight weekend of anti-government protests, defying attempts by President Emmanuel Macron to channel their anger into a series of town hall debates.
A police source said the authorities expected the protests to be "at least as big as last week" when over 80,000 people demonstrated over inequality, the privileges enjoyed by senior public servants and the governing style of a president accused of arrogance.
Last week's turnout confirmed that, after a lull at the end of the year, the protesters behind the biggest crisis in Macron's presidency remain fully mobilized.
The centrist leader was hoping that the launch this week of a "grand national debate" on policy would mark a turning point.
However scuffles broke out on Saturday as demonstrators marched through Paris. The demonstrations were largely peaceful but clashes broke out late in the afternoon between police and demonstrators, some wearing masks, in Paris’ Invalides district.
Protesters threw firecrackers, bottles and stones at the police who responded with water canon and tear gas to push them back.
Officials said there were around 7,000 demonstrators in Paris and 27,000 across France.
A Reuters reporter also said there had been clashes in the southern port city of Marseille, while similar demonstrations took place in other cities across France. "Macron, resign!” some of the protesters shouted.
Some also carried mock coffins symbolizing the 10 people who have died during the protests, mainly due to accidents when demonstrators blocked roads.
The "yellow vest” protests - which make use of fluorescent jackets French motorists are required to carry in their cars - began in November over higher fuel taxes.
Those fuel taxes were subsequently scrapped, yet the movement has morphed into a broader anti-Macron protest.
December’s demonstrations wreaked some of the worst violence seen in decades in Paris, as rioters burned cars and damaged shops and businesses.
Protests this month have not witnessed the same level of trouble, although video of a former French boxing champion punching and kicking police in Paris shocked many.
Macron has launched a series of national debates to help quell public discontent and restore his standing.
But many yellow vests have announced plans to boycott the discussions scheduled in dozens of towns and villages, seeing them as an attempt to drain support from the movement.
The growing number of demonstrators to suffer serious injuries at the hands of the police has compounded their anger towards the state.
The "Disarm" collective, a local group that campaigns against police violence, has counted 98 cases of serious injuries, including 15 cases of people losing an eye, mostly after being hit by rubber bullets.
Some 80,000 security force members were on duty again nationwide on Saturday, 5,000 of them in Paris.
Macron is pinning his hopes on the debate to quash the image of a leader out-of-touch with the concerns of people in rural France.
"I'm warning you, Mr President. This debate must not become a big bluff," the mayor of the south-central village of Saint-Cirgues, Christian Venries, warned Macron at a public meeting Friday in his region.
To fend off accusations that his policies favor rich urbanites the most, former investment banker Macron has already scrapped a controversial fuel tax hike that would have squeezed car-dependent rural-dwellers.
He has also unveiled a 10-billion-euro ($11.5-billion) package of wage increases and tax relief for low earners and retirees that threw off France's deficit targets.
The measures fell short of the mark for the protesters, who are demanding a radical policy shift in favor of low earners, buoyed by polls that show widespread sympathy for their cause.