“Yellow vest” demonstrators have gathered in central Paris for the fifth weekend of protests in defiance of calls by the French government to stay at home.
President Emmanuel Macron, facing the biggest crisis of his presidency, had announced a series of concessions on Monday to defuse the explosive “yellow vest” movement which sprang up in rural and small-town France last month.
He was hopeful that the package of tax and minimum wage measures, coupled with bitter winter weather, will help end a month of violent clashes and disruptions.
The last three Saturdays have been marked by violent demonstrations, with burning barricades, pillaging, and clashes with police in cities across France.
Paris police said 21 people were detained by mid-morning before the protests.
“Last time, we were here for taxes,” a 28-year-old Jeremy told the AFP news agency as he joined others gathering in freezing cold on the Champs-Elysees shortly after 8:00 am (07:00 GMT).
“This is for the institutions: we want more direct democracy,” he said, adding that people needed to “shout to make themselves heard”.
The “yellow vest” protesters have made dozens of demands, but they have no agreed programme or nominated leaders, making the task of negotiation difficult.
Until now, a clear majority of French people had backed the protests, which began over tax hikes on transport fuel before snowballing into wide opposition to Macron’s pro-business agenda and style of governing.
But two polls published on Tuesday – in the wake of Macron’s concessions – found the country was now split broadly fifty-fifty on whether the protests should continue.
“We expect slightly less people [on the streets] but individuals who are slightly more determined,” Deputy Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said late on Friday.
Around 8,000 police officers were expected to be deployed in Paris on Saturday, the same number as the last weekend, backed up by 14 armoured vehicles, water cannons and horses which are used for crowd control.
Around 90,000 security personnel were mobilised last Saturday across France and 2,000 people were detained, around half of them in Paris.
“That people demonstrate, no problem, but the vandalism is appalling,” Maria, who manages the Le Vin Coeur restaurant near the Arc de Triomphe in Paris told AFP on Saturday morning.
Like thousands of other business and restaurant owners across the capital, she was apprehensive and ready to pull down her shutters and close at the first whiff of tear gas.
Many of the “yellow vest” figureheads, along with the leaders of the far-left Unbowed France party, have urged protesters to turn up on Saturday to put pressure on the government into making further concessions.
Others have suggested that the small town and rural protesters should show their resolve by rallying in the regions rather than heading for the capital.
France “needs calm, order and to go back to its normal functioning”, Macron had said on Friday.
On Thursday, government spokesman Benjamin Griveaux had called on protesters to stay put.
“It would be better if everyone could go about their business calmly on Saturday, before the year-end celebrations with their families, instead of demonstrating and putting our security forces to work once again,” he said.
He was speaking in the wake of an attack on Tuesday in the eastern city of Strasbourg, which left four dead and 12 wounded.
Interior Minister Christophe Castaner also criticised attacks on the police at a time when the security threat level remains high in France since 2015.
“I find it inadmissible that today we are applauding our police and then tomorrow some people think it’s okay to go and throw stones at them,” Castaner said on Friday morning after the gunman in the Strasbourg attack was found and shot dead.
In a bid to end the protests, Macron had announced measures that are estimated by economists to cost up to 15 billion euros ($17bn) on Monday.
He cancelled the planned fuel tax hikes, offered a rise in the minimum wage, tax relief for pensioners and tax-free overtime for workers in 2019.
|
Emmanuel Macron’s empty liberalism (2:29) |
