French police deployed tear gas after thousands of “yellow vest” activists converged on the the Champs Élysées for a third week of protests against President Emmanuel Macron and his government. Over 122 arrests have been made.
Chanting “On the way to Macron’s resignation,” the protesters were hit with tear gas as riot police struggled to contain Saturday’s violence, which saw cars set on fire, paint thrown on officers, and several injuries. Protesters attempted to breach barricades blocking the path to the presidential palace on Saturday morning; “lighting fires, throwing rocks and spraying police officers with vivid yellow paint.”
Riot police fire tear gas and stun grenades at “yellow vest” protesters in Paris.
It’s the third weekend of mall demonstrations which began against rising fuel prices.
Follow the latest from France and the rest of the world here: https://t.co/ZG9yBQyrqG pic.twitter.com/DzARcJ08GV— Sky News (@SkyNews) December 1, 2018
Watch live:
Protesters were hit with a water cannon for the second week in a row:
J’ai été blessé par un tir de la police pic.twitter.com/0xhwilXc1c
— Lucas Léger (@lucas_rtfrance) December 1, 2018
Originally formed to protest rising fuel prices, the “yellow vest” protesters have evolved into a wider demonstration against President Emmanuel Macron’s government in recent weeks. After French interior minister Christophe Castaner initially blamed the “far right” for the protests, the interior ministry has now said the participants are “extreme-right and far-left demonstrators,” according to The Guardian.
The gilets jaunes(yellow vests) protests are posing one of the most sustained challenges yet to Emmanuel Macron’s leadership. Hundreds of thousands of protesters have barricaded roads and blockaded toll-booths and fuel depots across France over the past two weeks, complaining that Macron’s pro-business tax policy was unfair and that people on low-income jobs could not make ends meet.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
