PARIS, March 8 -- The Gilets Jaunes, or Yellow Jackets, the ongoing anti-government protest, kicked off a 17th consecutive weekend of action on Friday night on the chic and touristy Champs de Mars, at the foot of the iconic Eiffel Tower. About thirty or so militants were moved on by police. The movement had planned the sit-in would last till Sunday. On Friday night, police confiscated protestors tents pitched on the chic and touristy Champs de Mars, after about a hundred demonstrators tried to launch the sit-in with an outdoors sleep-in. he Gilets Jaunes have announced a march down the Champs-Elysées on Saturday, and another demonstration in the Jardin du Luxembourg on the Left Bank. They said they are also marching for equal rights for women to mark Friday's International Women's Day and to " unite all the movements." Meanwhile, Charles de Gaulle-Roissy Airport is another potential target area for a Gilets-Jaunes protest against further privatising the firm, ADP which runs CDG-Roissy, Le Bourget and Orly airports. The FrenchState has a more than 60 percent stake in the firm. Demonstrations this weekend are due to take place in Paris, near the Champs-Elysées, known for its shops, restaurants and cinema halls. The Gilets Jaunes protestors have said they demonstrate in the cities of Lyon, Strasbourg, Lille, Bordeaux, and the towns of Montpellier, Avignon, Quimper and Puy-en-Velay. The movement has made roundabouts their favourite rallying point all over France. The leaders of the movement, such as Priscilla Ludosky and Maxime Nicolle say their aim is to be seen and heard. They consider the government's responses to their greivances are not "real measures". Fewer demonstrators have turned out in the past couple of weekends compared to the early peak of street protests in November 2018. At the start of the movement, more than 280,000 people turned out over one weekend. Last week's demonstrations mustered some 39,000 demonstrators according to the French interior ministry, four thousand in Paris. The still angry protestors dispute the figures. French President Emmanuel Macron has announced that his "Grand Débat" will continue beyond the original end-date of 15 March 2019. His outreach operation has taken him to meet local officials and ordinary French people in the furthest reaches of France in recent weeks, to hear their points of view. The government is then supposed to consider all the comments and see where and how it might respond.
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PARIS, March 3 -- Yellow vest protesters have taken to the streets of France for a sixteenth weekend in a row, although numbers were significantly lower than last week. The Interior Ministry reported that around 5,600 people were protesting across the country at 2pm on Saturday - at the same time last week it was almost double that number. "We have to keep mobilizing because Macron despises us and does not listen to any of our demands," Sophie Tissier, the yellow vest coordinator said in Nantes. "He does not even try to understand that there are people that are living in huge poverty and insecurity, and that there are so many injustices." President Emmanuel Macron has responded to the protests by organizing what he calls national debates in town hall-style meetings across the country. The yellow vests meanwhile have announced they're going to put up candidates in May for the EU elections. PARIS, February 23 -- The French Yellow Vests, who for three months have protested against the tax and social policies of President Emmanuel Macron, took to the streets on Saturday for the 15th consecutive round of demonstrations. “We’re thinking about the future of our children, and the single mothers who are currently struggling,” said 58-year-old widow Sylvie, who spoke to the AFP news agency. Sylvie was part of a group of Yellow Vests who gathered at the Chambord chateau to hold a picnic. Chambord, a popular tourist attraction in the Centre-Val de Loire region, was built by King Francis I and was chosen by Macron to celebrate his 40th birthday in 2017. In Paris, hundreds of protesters were gathered on the Champs d’Elysee at midday, according to a journalist with the AFP news agency. Two marches are expected in the French capital as well as one in the city’s “beautiful quartiers”. Nearly 4,000 people had said by Friday night that they would take part in the demonstrations, a figure that doesn't necessarily represent the number of protesters who will actually turn out. Some 5,000 “gilet jaunes” marched in the capital last Saturday, according to the authorities. Daily newspaper Le Parisien led with an article entitled “Breathless” on its Saturday front-page with a photo of a single Yellow Vest protester occupying part of a roundabout. The Yellow Vest movement counted some 282,000 people when the protests began on 17 November. The demonstrations were marked by their apolitical nature and lack of alignment with any trade unions, focusing on the increase in fuel prices and diminishing purchasing power. The movement represented one of the worse crises to hit Macron’s term of office since he came to power in 2017. However, there were no more than 41,000 people involved in protests last Saturday, according to official statistics that the Yellow Vest movement itself contests. “A movement which fades,” said Le Parisien, one of the only French dailies to consecrate a significant part of its coverage to Yellow Vest protests.
Fears over violence Violent clashes that have accompanied each demonstration as well as the inability of the movement to unite around one common cause or leader have led to a diminishing turnout for the regular protests. French people largely support the protest movement, although more than half the population believes that it should end, according to a survey by Ifop published by Le Journal du Dimanche on 17 February. After three months of protests, the authorities have increasingly tried to take control of the situation. The government rushed through some 10 billion euros of concessions including tax cuts and an increase in the minimum wage. Macron has also launched his “big debate” initiative with the aim of giving angry Yellow Vests the opportunity to express their frustration. Eleven people have been killed since the start of the demonstrations, most of those have been accidents in the vicinity of barricades erected by the Yellow Vests. Protesters frequently point the finger at “police violence” as the reason behind the nearly 2,000 people injured during the demonstrations. More than 200 reports of abuse carried out by security forces have been made to the internal police watchdog. PARIS, February 16 -- Demonstrators are to hit French city streets again Saturday, marking three months of "yellow vest" protests as a poll now suggests that most of the country wants them to stop. The number of those attending the weekly rallies has dropped since 287,000 turned out on November 17, the first Saturday of protest. And for the first time, a poll found Wednesday that more than half those questioned felt it was time to end the protests. On February 9, the 13th weekend of anti-government actions, 51,000 people took to the streets according to police, though protest organisers put the figure at 118,000. Violence has marred nearly every large-scale rally In Paris, where 4,000 gathered last week, clashes broke out outside the National Assembly building where one demonstrator lost a hand, reportedly as he tried to bat away a stun grenade. Masked activists tried to break down barriers protecting the parliament but were repelled by police firing tear gas and grenades. As the march continued, vandals burned rubbish bins and cars and smashed bus shelters, cash machines and shop windows along the route. One of the torched vehicles belonged to Sentinelle, an anti-terrorism unit. Interior Minister Christophe Castaner expressed his "indignation and disgust" in a tweet. Some 550 shops have been damaged by protesters in the capital since mid November. Thousands of protesters also turned out in the southern cities of Marseille, Montpellier, Bordeaux and Toulouse -- strongholds of the movement -- as well as several cities in the north and west of France. The "yellow vest" movement started as a protest against rising fuel taxes, but it has become one of opposition to President Emmanuel Macron's policies. Speaking at a meeting with local mayors on Thursday, Macron said it was time for a "return to reason", adding that authorities would act with "greater firmness" against violent demonstrators. The interior ministry said 1,796 people have been sentenced for rioting or other acts of violence over the past three months, while 1,422 more are awaiting trial. Ex-boxer Christophe Dettinger who became a hero to some protesters after beating up police officers during a demonstration in January was convicted Wednesday and given a one-year prison term. 56 percent want protests to stop An Elabe opinion poll published Wednesday said 56 percent of French people now wanted the protests to stop -- 11 points higher than a month ago. And while 58 percent of people still backed or had sympathy for the protesters, that was five points lower than two weeks ago and nine points below the level in early January. Two out of three people thought the recurring Saturday rallies were no longer in keeping with what "yellow vests" originally stood for. Macron has pledged 10 billion euros ($11.2 billion) in response to anger over the high cost of living, including tax cuts for some pensioners and measures to boost low wages. He has also spearheaded a "grand national debate" by way of the internet and town hall meetings to gather opinions on how the country could be reformed. It was not known how many people might turn out for protests over the weekend as social media messaging has alternatively called for blocking the Arc de Triomphe monument in Paris Saturday, or marching down the Champs-Elysees avenue on Sunday. Others suggested "yellow vests" should return to their original tactics of massing at roundabouts nationwide and blocking traffic. PARIS, Februaru 10 -- Thousands of French gilets jaunes (yellow vests) demonstrators marched on Saturday in what was their 13th weekend of action. There were scuffles in Paris and a demonstrator’s hand was mangled by a small explosive. There was also an overnight arson attack on the Brittany residence of the National Assembly head, Richard Ferrand, though no immediate link was made to the actions against President Emmanuel Macron. The demonstrations, named for high-visibility jackets worn by the protesters, began in mid-November over fuel taxes. They have since broadened into a more general revolt against a political class they view as out of touch with common people. In Paris, several thousand people marched on Saturday beside symbols of power such as the National Assembly and Senate. The demonstrations were mainly peaceful, but some protesters threw objects at security forces, a scooter and a police van were set on fire and some shop windows were smashed. One participant’s hand was severely injured when he tried to pick up a so-called “sting-ball grenade” used by police to disperse crowds with teargas, a police source told Reuters. Another man had blood streaming down his face in front of a line of riot police. The interior ministry put the total number of protesters around France at 12,000, including 4,000 in Paris. The police source, however, said numbers were higher, with 21,000 demonstrators taking part in rallies outside Paris. “We’re not children, we’re adults,” said Hugues Salone, a computer engineer from Paris, who among the chanting and placard-waving protesters. “We really want to assert our choices, and not the choices of the politicians who do not live up to them.” Leaders of the movement have denounced the police for injuring protesters, but have also struggled to contain violence from their own lines. Politicians from across the spectrum condemned the arson attack on the home of Ferrand, a close ally of Macron and president of parliament’s lower house. He published pictures on Twitter of a scorched living room, saying police found materials soaked in fuel. Ferrand said criminal intent was the likely cause, although the perpetrators’ identity was unclear. “Nothing justifies intimidations and violence towards an elected official of the Republic,” Macron tweeted in relation to the incident. PARIS, February 7 -- French President Emmanuel Macron has canceled a trip to the Munich Security Conference, which begins next week. The Elysée Palace said he will instead focus on domestic issues in France and that his next trip abroad will not be until a visit to Africa in mid-March, according to French newspaper Le Figaro. Macron will therefore not partake in a planned joint appearance with German Chancellor Angela Merkel at the conference, which brings together hundreds of politicians, academics and other leading figures, according to the Süddeutsche Zeitung. The decision comes at a time when Macron is facing increased pressure at home from the so-called Yellow Jackets movement. The protests have forced him to make numerous concessions, including increasing the minimum wage and tax cuts. Members of the movement are also vying to make a mark in May's European Parliament election. PARIS, February 2 -- The 12th weekend of Yellow Vest protests in France is to focus on police violence during rallies. At least 100 protesters have been reported seriously injured in past demonstrations. France's Yellow Vests will demonstrate for a twelfth consecutive Saturday. This time, the national anti-government protests aim to condemn the use of controversial non-lethal munitions that have been linked to several serious injuries over the past two months. Paris and the southern town of Valence have been announced as the main meeting points for the demonstrations. Injured lead march in Paris Some of the protesters injured by riot police over the past two months will be on the frontlines of Saturday's march in Paris. "It is a march in their honour, you must come disguised as an injured person with a bandage, plasters, fake blood," Eric Drouet, a figurehead of the Yellow Vests movement, said in a video message. One of the major incidents involved prominent figure Jerome Rodrigues who was shot at by riot police with “flashball” rounds which resulted in the activist being seriously injured, facing the prospect of losing one of his eyes, Le Figaro reports.
Mr Rodrigues is a close associate of one of the leaders of the Yellow Vest movement Éric Drouet with the latter calling on members of the movement to harden their pressure on the government of French President Emmanuel Macron. In a statement, Drouet made clear reference to the French national anthem writing, “Citoyens, formez vos bataillons!” or, “citizens form your battalions!” — a far more overtly militant stance than the movement has previously made. “Thus, we declare the state of emergency of the people,” he said and added, “We call for an unprecedented uprising by all the means useful and necessary so that no one is a victim of these wounds of war.” Drouet had previously been visited by police after calling for the storming of the Elysée Palace on French television and arrested earlier this month for holding an impromptu protest. On Sunday, Rodrigues clarified that the message was to increase pressure but not to resort to violence and said, “I will not give up, I will be at the demonstrations as soon as my state will allow me.” Rodrigues captured footage of the attack whilst live streaming during the protest around the Bastille, showing police firing directly at him. Rodrigues’s lawyer Philippe de Veulle claimed that a complaint against the actions of the police had already been filed and blamed the use of flashball ammunition for the injuries. The injury comes after French emergency room doctors sounded the alarm over the high number of serious injuries suffered by Yellow Vest protesters over the last 11 weeks which have seen several people lose eyes and hands due to riot police tactics PARIS, January 2 -- France’s yellow vest movement has kept up the pressure on President Emmanuel Macron with mainly peaceful marches and scattered skirmishes on its 11th straight weekend of action. The rallies and protests took place despite internal divisions among the protesters and growing worries about violence. Multiple anti-government protests took place in Paris and other cities, centred on Macron policies which are viewed as favouring the rich. About 80,000 police officers were deployed to patrol the events and to disperse any trouble. A few cars were set ablaze in the Normandy town of Evreux. In Paris, crowds gathered at the columned headquarters of France’s lower house of parliament. Police used tear gas on demonstrators at the iconic Bastille Plaza, some of whom hurled missiles in response. PARIS, January 26 -- France's police and gendarmerie are completing preparations for an 11th wave of demonstrations, which the "yellow vests" protest movement outlined on Saturday. Unlike in previous times, law enforcement agencies have not yet announced the number of troops that they plan to mobilise to ensure the safety of citizens. Over 2,000 people have been arrested since the protests began and at least 10 have died. French Law Enforcement Deploys Armoured Vehicles Near Paris' Arc de Triumph As Police Anticipate ProtestsPolice deployed armoured vehicles at the Charles de Gaulle square on Saturday as protesters started to gather at the Champs Elysee in Paris. Prior to the demonstration, the French Interior Ministry didn't rule out the possibility of new clashes during protests. The "yellow vests" movement began in mid-November in response to the government's plan to raise fuel tax, with protests quickly turning violent. |
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