General Thread: France, Protests, Riots, Unrest: (Updates)

[mountaineer]

Is Paris burning?

France fuel protests: Police in Paris fire tear gas
BBC
Nov. 24, 2018

Police in Paris have used tear gas and water cannon to disperse protesters demonstrating for a second weekend against rising fuel prices.

Clashes broke out on the Champs-Elysées as protesters tried to get through a police security cordon around sensitive sites in the centre of the city.

Several thousand demonstrators are estimated to have gathered and 3,000 police officers have been deployed.

Organisers billed the latest protests as "act two" in their rolling campaign.

Known as "yellow jackets" after their distinctive high-visibility attire, the protesters oppose an increase in fuel duty on diesel.   ...

Some demonstrators ripped up paving stones and threw firecrackers at police while shouting slogans calling for President Emmanuel Macron to resign.

Interior Minister Christophe Castaner accused the demonstrators of being influenced by the leader of the far-right National Rally party, Marine Le Pen. But she accused him, on Twitter, of dishonesty. ...

More at BBC

[mountaineer]

Associated Press:

PARIS (AP) — French police fired tear gas and water cannons to disperse demonstrators in Paris Saturday, as thousands gathered in the capital and staged road blockades across the nation to vent anger against rising fuel taxes and Emmanuel Macron's presidency.

Thousands of police were deployed nationwide to contain the demonstrations, including a tense protest at the foot of the Champs-Elysees where protesters wielded placards reading "Death to Taxes" and upturned a large vehicle.

No one was injured in the clashes, but six were arrested for "throwing projectiles," Paris Police told The Associated Press.

"It's going to trigger a civil war and me, like most other citizens, we're all ready," said Benjamin Vrignaud, a 21-year-old protester from Chartres.  ...

Five thousand protesters flooded the Champs-Elysees alone, with 23,000 protesters in total nationwide, according to Interior Minister Christophe Castaner.  ...

Macron has insisted that the fuel tax rises are a necessary pain to reduce France's dependence on fossil fuels and fund renewable energy investments, which is a cornerstone of his reforms of the nation. ...

More

[mountaineer]

France’s ‘gilets jaunes’ leave Macron feeling decidedly off-colour
Fuel tax protest has widened into outburst at inequality and against ruling political class
 Angelique Chrisafis
Fri 23 Nov 2018 10.34 EST

Anti-government protesters who barricaded roads and fuel depots across France this week are to stage fresh demonstrations in Paris on Saturday, as Emmanuel Macron struggles to quell a national mood of defiance.

The “gilets jaunes” (yellow vests) citizens’ movement – named after the protesters’ fluorescent, high-visibility vests – has caught the French president off-guard. The movement has no leader and its ad-hoc barricades at tollbooths, roundabouts and fuel depots have been organised on social media.

The movement, which began as a protest against rising fuel taxes, has grown into a wider outpouring over inequality, a political class seen as cut off from reality and the pro-business Macron’s persistently negative image as a “president of the rich”.  ...

Marie, 31, a childminder in the Var region of southern France, has been protesting all week at a tollbooth “People are exasperated, there is so much anger – taxes are going up, our salaries aren’t. When you work hard, it feels unfair,” she said.

“My retired parents can’t make ends meet so they had to get work distributing advertising leaflets. The government isn’t listening. To me, Macron is the president of the rich, slashing taxes for the wealthy, ignoring the rest of us. Politicians are cut off from our lives.

“Those in charge are one big oligarchy. The media can’t be trusted either. I’d consider voting Marine Le Pen, but the whole political class is a letdown and I wonder why I vote at all. I worry the future will be even worse for my three children than it is for me.”  ... More at The Guardian (U.K.)

A protester outside a shopping centre in Nantes walks past a wall with graffiti
 saying: ‘Macron, resign.’ Photograph: Stéphane Mahé/Reuters

[Right_in_Virginia]

Muslims raping their daughters and no-go zones, nothing. Raise the gas tax, national protests.  Tough to figure out the French. 

[Right_in_Virginia]

“My retired parents can’t make ends meet so they had to get work distributing advertising leaflets. The government isn’t listening. To me, Macron is the president of the rich, slashing taxes for the wealthy, ignoring the rest of us. Politicians are cut off from our lives.

“Do you hear the people sing?”

[mountaineer]

There's always something to protest in France (except the Muslim invasion, of course).

Nationwide 'Nous toutes' marches protest violence against women in France
 Louise NORDSTROM
Latest update : 2018-11-24


For months, French feminists have set aside November 24 as a day for nationwide marches to protest violence against women. Protesters are hoping that last-minute blockades staged by the country’s “yellow vests” don't eclipse the women’s message.

“YellowVests, please leave us November 24,” @layemeraude tweeted when organisers behind France’s anti-diesel tax movement earlier this week announced a new round of road blockades this Saturday. “It’s the day for #Nous_Toutes, the day for when marches against sexist and sexual violence have been organised in all of France, it’s been planned for months! We really need this exposure!” she wrote.

#NousToutes, which roughly translates into “All of us (women)”, is a French grassroots movement that was born this summer when several of the country’s feminist groups got together and decided to take last year’s #MeToo campaign one step further and call more attention to sexist and sexual violence against women. In September, the group organised its first protest action, garnering some 600 people in Paris and a total of 4,000 across France. ...

But the scheduled marches risk being overshadowed, or even disrupted, by parallel protests staged by the so-called “yellow vest” movement, which have erupted over the government’s recent tax hike on diesel fuel. The movement – named after the high-visibility vests that French drivers are required to carry in their vehicles – held its first protests on November 17, with nearly 300,000 people mounting barricades or using their bodies to block access to motorways, tunnels and airports across France. On Monday, organisers called on their supporters to protest again, urging them to come out in force this Saturday, especially in Paris. ...

More at France24


Photo from Le Monde

[truth_seeker]

Doesn't France use a great deal of power, from nuclear plants?

What is the use for diesel, since most people do not drive privately owned vehicles; least of all the type o people that go to the streets in protest?

[Wingnut]

You'd think France was a socialist country or sumpthin.

[Fishrrman]

These kind of riots and protests seem to be a French tradition.

As others mentioned above, why aren't they smart enough to riot against the onslaught of islam in their country...?

[mountaineer]

My father was in France during the 1968 riots. He asked one protester what they were hoping to accomplish. The answer, essentially, was, "Je ne sais quois."

My first visit to Paris was in 1983 with my cousin. We arrived to find people blocking the streets and harassing motorists, protesting something or other. Later, we were at the Eiffel Tower and looked down to see protesters burning someone in effigy.

In 2008, we almost got stranded in France because of a strike at the airport.

It's always something with these people!   

[Wingnut]

My father was in France during the 1968 riots. He asked one protester what they were hoping to accomplish. The answer, essentially, was, "Je ne sais quois."

My first visit to Paris was in 1983 with my cousin. We arrived to find people blocking the streets and harassing motorists, protesting something or other. Later, we were at the Eiffel Tower and looked down to see protesters burning someone in effigy.

In 2008, we almost got stranded in France because of a strike at the airport.

It's always something with these people!   

At least when the Nazi's took over they had the trains running on time.

[Right_in_Virginia]

PARIS (AP) — The Latest on protests in France (all times local):

8:05 p.m. Nov 24

French President Emmanuel Macron has condemned violence by protesters at demonstrations against rising fuel taxes and his government.

Macron said in a strongly worded tweet: “Shame on those who attacked (police). Shame on those who were violent against other citizens ... No place for this violence in the Republic.”

https://apnews.com/3f6c80f6c83b4292a7869147ee947bb1

[TomSea]

[mountaineer]

Looks like "shame on those" is about as macho as M. Macron gets.

[mountaineer]

Interesting analysis from "No Pasarán"

... It is not wrong to say that the demonstrations were caused by the government's decision to raise gas prices. What is missing is that this is just one of several draconian measures dating back half a year, i.e., ‘tis the proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back.

For the past four to five months, the French government has done nothing but double down on bringing more and more gratuitous oppression and more and more unwarranted persecution measures down on the necks the nation's drivers and motorcycle riders.

In fact, the imposition of ever harsher rules has been going on for the past decade and a half or so — whether the government was on the right or on the left — and that is why the choice of les gilets jaunes (the yellow jackets) by the demonstrators is particularly ironic.

The 2008 law (under the presidency of Nicolas Sarkozy) requiring the presence of high-visibility vests (gilets de haute visibilité) aka security vests (gilets de sécurité) in every vehicle — hardly an unreasonable rule, for sure, as similar ones exist throughout the continent — was just another example of the myriad of evermore-onerous rules for car and motorcycle owners over the past 15 years, and so the government in effect provided the 2018 rebels with their uniforms.  ...   More

[mountaineer]

Macron: Paris protest 'battle scenes' could hurt France's image
Paris begins clean-up of damage at cost of up to £1.3m as 200 extra workers drafted in
Kim Willsher
26 Nov 2018

Emmanuel Macron has said the “battle scenes” in central Paris between police and protesters over the weekend risked unnerving foreigners.

The French president told ministers at a cabinet meeting on Monday that the government must respond after images were relayed around the world of police firing teargas and water cannon at protesters who set up barricades, lit fires and smashed restaurants and shopfronts on the Champs-Élysées.  ...

BFM TV reported that France’s intelligence services had identified 80 to 120 extreme-right sympathisers at the heart of the violence, while other media claimed tags and logos at the scene suggested extreme leftwing and anarchist organisations were involved.

Officials said it was too early to establish the cost of the damage, but one estimated it could be up to €1.5m (£1.3m).

Sparked by fuel price rises, the gilets jaunes movement has embraced wider dissatisfaction with Macron and his centrist government, who are seen as out of touch with ordinary people. Ministers have said there will be no U-turn on fuel tax increases, which are part of environmental measures. Macron is expected to respond to the protests in a speech on Tuesday.  ... More at the Guardian

Centrist?

[mountaineer]

Still going on:

France fuel protests: Tear gas fired in clashes in Paris

Police and protesters have clashed in Paris during a third weekend of "yellow vest" demonstrations sparked by rising fuel prices.

Police fired tear gas while several officers had yellow paint thrown at them. At least 39 people were arrested.

Thousands of people have been taking to the streets in protest at fuel costs and the high cost of living.

President Macron struck a conciliatory tone earlier in the week but said he would not abandon his fuel tax.

He said it was a key part of France's future energy strategy to combat global warming, but added that he was open to ideas about how the tax could be applied.  ...

BBC

[mountaineer]

omg, a museum is on fire.

Paris violence: Jeu de Paume gallery on fire as 'mob storm Tuileries Garden'
The fire comes after riot police and masked French protesters clashed as violent protests erupted over fuel prices
By Elaine McCahill
    15:59, 1 DEC 2018Updated19:24, 1 DEC 2018

The famous Jeu de Paume art gallery in Paris is on fire amid violent protests in the French capital today.

Footage shows the arts centre for modern and postmodern photography and media in flames as protests erupted across the city over fuel prices.

The gallery is located in the north corner of the Tuileries Gardens next to the Place de la Concorde. ...

Full story at the Mirror (U.K.)

[mountaineer]

A vandalised statue of the Marianne, a symbol of the French Republic, inside the Arc de Triomphe. Protesters smashed other statues in the monument and destroyed the gift shop

More photos of the damage done by rioters at The Guardian

[Right_in_Virginia]

Paris riots: Macron to hold emergency meeting after worst unrest in decade
The Guardian/UK, Dec 2, 2018

The French president, Emmanuel Macron, will hold an emergency meeting of senior ministers on Sunday after central Paris saw its worst unrest in a decade on Saturday. Thousands of masked protesters fought running battles with police, set fire to cars, banks and houses and burned makeshift barricades on the edges of demonstrations against fuel tax rises.

On Sunday morning, Paris authorities hired extra trucks to begin removing the carcasses of burnt cars on from the scorched pavements of some of Paris’s most expensive streets, amid graffiti calling for Macron to resign.

Piles of teargas canisters littered broken pavements in front of rows of shattered shopfronts and smashed windows, as TV channels showed non-stop footage of central Paris in flames during Saturday’s events..

The government spokesman Benjamin Griveaux did not rule out imposing a state of emergency – which two police unions have called for. The president, prime minister and interior minister said they would discuss all available options.


More:  https://www.theguardian.com/news/audio/2018/nov/28/has-france-fallen-out-of-love-with-emmanuel-macron-today-in-focus-podcast

[Right_in_Virginia]

[Right_in_Virginia]

[Right_in_Virginia]

[Right_in_Virginia]

Macron is hit with an egg ...


Sorry...



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i4gannf9ufw

[Oceander]

The anarchists and “professional” protesters have infiltrated.