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

[goodwithagun]

One less socialist to comment on tear gas at our borders. Was this why Macaroon was attempting assertiveness with the Saudi Prince yesterday?

[mountaineer]

The anarchists and “professional” protesters have infiltrated.

I wouldn't be surprised. Even in France: never let a crisis go to waste.

[DB]

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?

A good number of European cars use diesel. You get more mileage per gallon (diesel has more energy per gallon) and it was thought to be more environmentally friendly. But as far as the environment, VW and others cheated on their pollution claims...

[Right_in_Virginia]

BNL NEWS
@BreakingNLive

BREAKING: WATCH: Paris: A group of French police officers remove their helmets to show solidarity with the French people against President Emmanuel Macron, as anti Macron protests continue throughout France.
#GiletsJaunes

https://twitter.com/BreakingNLive/status/1069340718844522496

1:21 PM - 2 Dec 2018

Video at link.

[Dexter]

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

Protesters get murdered in socialist countries.

[DB]

Protesters get murdered in socialist countries.

Only after it gets to the point of show elections that get the same result no matter how people vote.

[Right_in_Virginia]

Riots, looting and violence: Here's what's happening in France and why it matters
CNBC, Nov 3, 2018

[...]

Why are people protesting?

The protests are essentially about recent tax hikes on fuel (gasoline and especially diesel) as part of the government's proposed carbon tax designed to improve its environmental credentials.

The tide of public resentment against the fuel tax rises has swollen into sometimes violent protests. Demonstrators wearing high-visibility jackets have blocked highways and fuel depots and protests have often turned violent. The protests were initially described as a largely working-class, grass roots movement with many among the demonstrators saying their livelihoods will be threatened by higher fuel prices.

However, the protests have now morphed into wider discontent at the high cost of living in France and dissatisfaction with Macron, whose popularity continues to fall. A poll by Kantar Public in late October showed that 71 percent of 1,000 respondents in the poll had no confidence in Macron.

[...]

"I guess what's specific to this movement is that it is relatively apolitical, so they (the protesters) are not from just one party on the left or right. They're white, middle-class people that are squeezed by the welfare state. They pay a lot of taxes but they don't get a lot of benefits in return," she told CNBC's Julianna Tatelbaum in Paris.

"And I guess if there are other people in other European counties that face these same challenges then obviously it could become a bigger movement."


More:  https://www.cnbc.com/2018/12/03/france-fuel-protests-heres-whats-happening-and-why-it-matters.html

[Frank Cannon]

LOL. Silly Frogs.

[Frank Cannon]

Protesters get murdered in socialist countries.

France is as Socialist as it gets. The govt' owns a controlling stake in all their major companies.

[GtHawk]

LOL. Silly Frogs.

[mountaineer]

Dear conservatives: France's 'yellow jacket' protesters are not our friends
by Tom Rogan
 | December 03, 2018 04:15 PM

The so-called "yellow jacket" protesters setting Paris alight do not deserve conservative support. They deserve only our desire for their defeat.

Some U.S. conservative commentators disagree with that assessment. Buck Sexton, for example, argues:   

When a government confiscates money from people under the threat of force to vaguely address a make believe problem, people who are struggling to put food on the table get pissed off

    What a shock. https://t.co/BxlKoc53hO
    — Buck Sexton (@BuckSexton) December 2, 2018

...  Still, the yellow jackets don't deserve conservative support. Because at the margin, this is no longer a battle between bad government policy and peaceful protesters against that policy. It's a struggle between the rule of law and the rule of the mob. The current state of France's Arc de Triomphe attests to as much. Protesters this weekend decided to desecrate the monument, attacking a statue of the republic's version of Lady Liberty, "Marianne," and destroying other statues. A video posted to Facebook shows dozens of protesters marauding through the Arc's museum.

That protesters would desecrate such a defining symbol of French glory says much about what this movement now is: thuggery veiled as political opposition. But if you don't think that this treatment of national monuments alone discredits the yellow jackets, then consider their treatment of Parisian persons and property. As the center-left Le Monde reports, this weekend saw hundreds of cars burned out, dozens of buildings or street stalls destroyed, and dozens of injured police officers. Many small business owners have suffered losses during the riots. These things are very poor testaments to conservative values.   ...

More at Washington Examiner

[DB]

From what I saw they're trying to start another revolution where they want to kill anyone deemed to be too wealthy. I don't know what percentage of them are working towards that end but at least some of them are screaming that.

[TomSea]

French police here, really crack down in the video at link. Without knowing more on the situation, this is fine with me. If you do this stuff in Italy, you get put down big time, no questions asked.

https://twitter.com/ragipsoylu/status/1069367451396333568

I think the BBC is reporting that the protesters are not going to discuss these problems with the government because the protesters say the violent element among the movement is threatening others.  The protesters seem way out of line to me.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-46434707

France fuel protests: 'Yellow vests' pull out of PM meeting

Protesters from France's "gilet jaunes" (yellow vests) movement have pulled out of a meeting with PM Edouard Philippe scheduled for Tuesday.

Some members of the group said they had received death threats from hardline protesters warning them not to enter into negotiations with the government.

The "yellow vests" have been protesting about a controversial fuel tax since mid-November.

More: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-46434707

[To-Whose-Benefit?]

They keep voting in petty tyrants like Macron instead of LePen, and then they riot over what they voted in.

[TomSea]

France expected to suspend fuel-tax hike that led to violent 'Yellow Jacket' protests
Kim Hjelmgaard, USA TODAY
Dec. 4, 2018

After more than two weeks of protests that have led to blocked roads, torched cars, looting and chaos in some of Paris' wealthiest neighborhoods, France's prime minister was expected Tuesday to suspend a fuel-tax hike that triggered the demonstrations.

Edouard Philippe will temporarily call off plans to increase a diesel tax, French media reported. The move is aimed at easing tensions after more than 100 people were injured and 400 arrested in Paris over the weekend amid "Yellow Jacket" protests.

Read more at: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2018/12/04/france-yellow-jacket-tax-protests/2200073002/

[Blizzardnh]

[TomSea]

English Lugansk
‏ @loogunda

Reportedly, a recent video from Paris of a Monop' store being plundered

https://twitter.com/Gorsha81/status/1069625732995928065 … commenters noticed several phrases in Russian in the video (I can hear them too, hmm... "monop" looks like RU cursive топор "axe" - just saw a familiar word?)
Стрєлок Не дождьотєся

https://twitter.com/loogunda/status/1069850418551894016

This sounds farfetched but I don't think it is necessarily farfetched that Russia or maybe better said, Putin,  might try to cause strife by getting involved in Western unrest.

Niels Ockelmann
‏ @NOckelmann

#Russia is building sleeper cells in #Switzerland and are training groups to "cause unrest and uncertainty in the target area".

https://twitter.com/NOckelmann/status/1069887458911883264

[thackney]

...After more than two weeks of protests that have led to blocked roads, torched cars, looting and chaos in some of Paris' wealthiest neighborhoods, France's prime minister was expected Tuesday to suspend a fuel-tax hike that triggered the demonstrations....

The protesters will be glad to know it worked and look forward to using this tactic again.

[mountaineer]

The French gubmint has suspended the fuel tax, for now.

[Wingnut]

The French gubmint has suspended surrendered the fuel tax, for now.

Fixed it for you.

[skeeter]

Fixed it for you.

On the other hand, the French middle class is showing more b*lls than the American (or at least blue state) middle class, who always accept their tax increase with a whimper.

I hope this starts changing soon.

[Wingnut]

On the other hand, the French middle class is showing more b*lls than the American (or at least blue state) middle class, who always accept their tax increase with a whimper.

I hope this starts changing soon.

We (middle class) are not the rioting kind on those isuues..  Only leftists and antifa do that stuff.

But your point is well taken and not lost on me.

[Jazzhead]

The new French fuel tax -  enacted in the name of green piety -  is expected to strip French citizens of an estimated $8 billion.   And for what?  France is already a low-carbon country (in large part because most electricity comes from no-emission nuclear power)  and the money will likely go to transition from reliable nuclear power to unreliable renewables.   

I don't condone the current violence,  spurred by anarchists with their own agendas,  but the French people have a right to be pissed off by the arrogance of their betters.   

[mountaineer]

I suspect that what started as a middle-class, populist protest against government overreach and excessive taxes in France has been co-opted by leftist Antifa-types, and that they are the ones committing destructive acts like smashing the Marianne sculpture, destroying shop windows and spray painting the Arc de Triomphe.

[mystery-ak]

France’s Macron Blinks in Standoff With Yellow Vests
Grassroots movement “gilets jaunes” led violent protests in the heart of Paris, pressuring him to back down on key piece of reform plan

 By Matthew Dalton and
Noemie Bisserbe
Updated Dec. 4, 2018 8:38 a.m. ET

PARIS—French President Emmanuel Macron delayed a planned tax increase on fuel, handing a victory to a grass-roots protest movement that has massed across France to challenge his agenda.

Faced with another weekend of destructive protests by the “gilets jaunes”—or yellow vests—Prime Minister Édouard Philippe told a news conference Tuesday the tax hike would be pushed back six months. The worst riots to hit Paris in decades erupted during antigovernment protests Saturday, leaving the city’s shopping and tourist center dotted with burning cars and broken storefronts. Protesters vandalized the Arc de Triomphe, rattling Mr. Macron’s administration and the nation.

“No tax is worth threatening the unity of the nation,” Mr. Philippe said.

The protests have become a test of Mr. Macron’s resolve to forge ahead with his broader agenda, particularly his pro-business overhaul of the French economy. Tuesday’s concession marked the first time the Macron government has blinked since the former investment banker took office in the spring of 2017.

more
https://www.wsj.com/articles/france-to-delay-fuel-tax-increase-after-violent-protests-1543925246