Mass arrests as new 'yellow vest' protests hit Paris

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Europe

00:59

French Prime Minister Édouard Philippe has vowed to restore national unity after the latest wave of demonstrations against the high cost of living that have shaken President Emmanuel Macron's authority.

Clad in their luminous road safety jackets, dozens of demonstrators, who accuse Macron of only looking out for the rich, gathered at dawn on the Champs-Elysees, the scene of last Saturday's protests, the worst in Paris since the 1968 student riots.

An estimated 125,000 people took part in marches across the country on Saturday, the interior ministry said. Around 1,000 people were detained, most of them in Paris.

Philippe said after the heavy clash between the police and the demonstrators, "We must now rebuild that national unity through dialogue, through work, and by coming together."

A Gendarmerie armored vehicle drives past fire near the Champs-Elysees avenue in Paris, December 8, 2018. /VCG Photo

Nearly 90,000 officers were deployed, including 8,000 in Paris, along with a dozen armored vehicles, to avoid a repeat of last Saturday's mayhem.

Paris on lockdown

The French capital looked like a ghost town early on Saturday, as riot police braced for a fourth weekend of confrontation over living costs.

Riot police clash with "yellow vest" protesters on the Champs-Elysees in Paris, December 8, 2018. /VCG Photo

In what should have been a festive pre-Christmas shopping day, tourists were few and residents were advised to stay at home, if at all possible.

The operators of landmarks like the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre and Orsay museums said they would be closed, along with theaters, libraries, metro trains, and major department stores. Top-flight football matches and concerts have also been canceled.

Many businesses were boarded up to avoid looting and street furniture, and construction site materials have been removed to prevent them from being used as projectiles.

Several foreign embassies in Paris issued safety warnings to their citizens to avoid crowds or postpone their visits.

French Interior Minister Christophe Castaner has vowed "zero tolerance" toward those aiming to wreak further destruction.

Tear gas floats around protesters wearing yellow vests during clashes with French Gendarmes on the Champs-Elysees Avenue in Paris, December 8, 2018. /VCG Photo

Macron faces challenge

Last weekend's violence, which saw some 200 cars torched and the Arc de Triomphe vandalized, shook France and plunged Macron's government into its deepest crisis so far.

Protesters, using social media, have billed the weekend as "Act IV" in a dramatic challenge to Macron and his policies.

Macron this week gave in to some of the protesters' demands for measures to help the poor and struggling middle classes, including scrapping a planned increase in fuel taxes and freezing electricity and gas prices in 2019.

Protesters stand in front of riot police on the Champs Elysees in Paris, December 8, 2018. /VCG Photo‍

What the yellow vests want is hard to pin down. The demonstrators have called for everything from higher taxes on the rich to fresh elections. The movement has no leadership and no political affiliation, but polls show its key complaints, that the cost of living is too high and the president is out of touch, command the support of at least two-thirds of French voters.

This discontent isn't a new phenomenon in France – the protesters are criticizing policies pursued for decades by presidents of both the left and the right – but Macron's perceived arrogance, more due to a series of Public Relations gaffes that have made him look unsympathetic to ordinary people's concerns than any specific policy, has led public anger to coalesce around him.

He was elected on a controversial reform program that he promised to push through regardless of protests, but it now seems that, like many French presidents before him, he'll be forced to change course by the power of the street.

Macron is expected to address the nation on the "yellow vest" protests in a speech early next week.

(Elena Casas-Montanez also contributed to the story.)

Source(s): AFP ,Reuters