France’s “yellow vest” protesters were back on the streets again on Saturday as a government spokesman denounced those still protesting as hardliners who wanted only to bring down the government.
About 1,000 protesters gathered on the Champs-Elysees in central Paris, where about 15 police vehicles were also deployed, a reporter said.
Some paused outside the headquarters of Agence France-Presse (AFP) in central Paris to hurl anti-media insults.
Photo: EPA-EFE
Police fired tear gas in the capital after protesters threw projectiles at police and AFP journalists saw minor scuffles near the River Seine as up to 4,000 joined the fray in the city by the afternoon, according to police.
Some protesters set bins ablaze and material damage included several burned out motorcycles strewn across streets.
“I am here to defend the right of my children to work that enables them to eat. My daughter earns 800 euros [US$911] a month. She works 25 hours a week in a baker’s. For her, it’s about surviving,” said one protester, 58-year-old Ghislaine.
Several other cities across France also saw small marches — including up to 2,000 in Rouen northwest of Paris, where at least two arrests were made and one protester was hurt by a projectile after demonstrators set fire to a barricade.
However, the scale and intensity of the protests has shriveled in the past few weeks and authorities put Saturday’s nationwide turnout at about 12,000, compared with 282,000 for the initial rally on Nov. 17.
Public anger has on occasion been directed at the media, seen by some as too close to the French government. Several journalists have been assaulted since the protests called by the grassroots movement started.
Last Saturday saw scuffles in Paris between some demonstrators denouncing media “collaborators” and police outside the headquarters of broadcasters BFMTV and France Televisions.
Police made four arrests on Friday evening in the northeastern city of Nancy after about 50 demonstrators tried to block the entrance of newspaper L’Est Republicain.
On Friday, government spokesman Benjamin Griveaux denounced those still protesting as “agitators who want insurrection and, basically, to overthrow the government.”
The midweek Paris arrest of Eric Drouet, one the movement’s spokespeople, sparked anger among his supporters. Drouet faces trial for carrying a weapon at a previous demonstration.
An opinion poll published on Thursday by Odoxa Dentsu indicated 55 percent public support for the yellow vest protests.
The government has deployed police around France to deal with the protests, backed up by specialist response units, sources told reporters.
The yellow vest demonstrations — named after the high-visibility jackets worn by the protesters — began in rural France over increased fuel taxes.
The movement ballooned into a wider revolt against French President Emmanuel Macron’s policies and governing style.
Macron initially refused to make any concessions, but in the middle of last month he scrapped the planned fuel tax rises, and promised extra cash for minimum wage earners and tax cuts for pensioners.
Much smaller copycat protests took place in neighboring Belgium on Saturday.
Demonstrations in Liege, Namur and the capital, Brussels, brought little more than 100 people onto Belgian streets in total.
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