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| Gilets jaunes protesters turn out in Paris for fifth weekend | Gilets jaunes protesters turn out in Paris for fifth weekend |
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| Paris police have been deployed in large numbers for the fifth consecutive weekend of demonstrations by gilets jaunes protesters, with authorities repeating calls for calm after previous rallies turned violent. | |
| At least 21 people were detained on Saturday morning as security forces in riot gear were positioned along the Champs-Élysées, where shops were closed and their windows boarded up. They were also deployed around central train stations, including Saint Lazare where they checked bags in the shadow of a water cannon truck. | |
| Authorities said about 8,000 police and 14 armoured vehicles would be deployed in the French capital. Groups of demonstrators smashed and looted stores, clashed with police and set up burning barricades in the streets. | |
| The gilets jaunes movement, which takes its name from the fluorescent safety vests French motorists must all carry in their vehicles, emerged in mid-November as a protest against fuel tax increases. It has since morphed into an expression of anger about the high cost of living and a sense that Emanuel Macron’s government is detached from the everyday struggles of workers. | |
| “Respect my existence or expect my resistance,” read a banner held aloft by one of the thousands of protesters who began converging on the Champs-Élysées on Saturday morning. | |
| “We’re here to represent all our friends and members of our family who can’t come to protest, or because they’re scared,” said Pierre Lamy, a 27-year-old industrial worker wearing a yellow vest with a French flag draped over his shoulders. | “We’re here to represent all our friends and members of our family who can’t come to protest, or because they’re scared,” said Pierre Lamy, a 27-year-old industrial worker wearing a yellow vest with a French flag draped over his shoulders. |
| The gilets jaunes have cowed Macron. But for them, that’s just the start | John Lichfield | |
| He said the protests had long stopped being about the fuel tax and had turned into a movement for economic justice. “Everything’s coming up now. We’re being bled dry.” | He said the protests had long stopped being about the fuel tax and had turned into a movement for economic justice. “Everything’s coming up now. We’re being bled dry.” |
| The French president called on Friday for calm during the demonstrations, and the government urged protesters to remain peaceful. | |
| “Protesting is a right. So let’s know how to exercise it,” the government tweeted from its official account, with a 34-second video which begins with images of historic French protests and recent footage of gilets jaunes protesters rallying peacefully before turning to violence. | “Protesting is a right. So let’s know how to exercise it,” the government tweeted from its official account, with a 34-second video which begins with images of historic French protests and recent footage of gilets jaunes protesters rallying peacefully before turning to violence. |
| “Protesting is not smashing. Protesting is not smashing our heritage. Protesting is not smashing our businesses ... Protesting is not smashing our republic,” the video says. | |
| Macron acknowledged in a speech earlier this week that he was partially responsible for the anger. He has announced measures that aim to improve workers’ spending power, but has so far refused to reinstate a wealth tax that was lifted in an attempt to spur investment in France. | |
| “I don’t think our democracy can accept to function with a dialogue that is carried out only with the occupation of the public domain, only by elements of violence,” Macron said on Friday. | “I don’t think our democracy can accept to function with a dialogue that is carried out only with the occupation of the public domain, only by elements of violence,” Macron said on Friday. |
| In Paris on Saturday, some protesters said the president still did not understand them. | In Paris on Saturday, some protesters said the president still did not understand them. |
| “I think that Macron isn’t in touch with what the yellow vests want. I think the yellow vests need to continue speaking out” said Julie Verrier, a protester from Picardie, Normandy, who had been protesting there for the past three weeks and had travelled to Paris for Saturday’s demonstration. | “I think that Macron isn’t in touch with what the yellow vests want. I think the yellow vests need to continue speaking out” said Julie Verrier, a protester from Picardie, Normandy, who had been protesting there for the past three weeks and had travelled to Paris for Saturday’s demonstration. |
| “The problem is that in the countryside local city halls are closed so we can’t go there to express and write our complaints and our wishes,” she said. “So coming here is the only way we have to say that French people need to be heard.” | “The problem is that in the countryside local city halls are closed so we can’t go there to express and write our complaints and our wishes,” she said. “So coming here is the only way we have to say that French people need to be heard.” |
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