Paris luxury stores looted, burned in 'yellow vest' riots

PARIS -- Rioters looted and torched shops and businesses on the famed Champs-Elysees avenue in Paris on Saturday, on the 18th weekend of French "yellow vest" protests, characterized by a sharp increase in violence after weeks of dwindling turnout.

President Emmanuel Macron cut short a skiing trip in the Pyrenees to return to Paris for a crisis meeting, as hooded protesters went on the rampage in Paris, leaving a trail of destruction in the touristic heart of the city.

He vowed to take "strong decisions" to prevent further violence, following the emergency talks held at the interior ministry late Saturday.

"There are people today who try by all means... to damage the Republic by breaking, by destroying things at the risk of killing someone," Macron said.

"All those who were there were complicit in" the havoc spread across the Champs-Elysees, he added.

The police appeared overrun as protesters swarmed the Champs-Elysees, vandalizing and later setting fire to Fouquet's brasserie, a favorite hangout of the rich and famous for the past century -- as well as luxury handbag store Longchamp, a bank, another restaurant and several news stands.

The rioters also looted several clothing stores and set fire to barricades in scenes reminiscent of the worst yellow-vest riots in Paris in December.

"Like the vast majority of French people, I feel very angry today," tweeted French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe, who visited the scene. 

"Today's actions are not the work of protesters, but of looters, arsonists and criminals. No cause justifies this violence," he added.

In a statement, the national police denounced the "mindless violence, cowardly attacks" and stressed their determination to guarantee public order against "provocateurs and vandals".

BANK BLAZE 

Saturday's turnout was seen a test of the ongoing strength of the movement, which began in November over fuel tax hikes and quickly ballooned into a rebellion against Macron's policies, seen by the protesters as geared towards the rich.

In recent weeks, the protests have dwindled in size. But the interior ministry estimated the turnout in Paris Saturday at 10,000, out of around 32,300 nationwide.

That is a fraction of the 282,000 people they said took part in the inaugural demonstrations across France on November 17, but more than the previous weekend. 

Saturday's protests were markedly more violent than in recent weeks. Police said close to 240 people were arrested, while prosecutors said more than 100 had been taken into custody.

The bank set alight was on the ground floor of an apartment building, and fire firefighters had to quickly evacuate the residents, including a 9-month-old baby.

Eleven people suffered minor injuries in the bank blaze, the fire service told AFP.

The violence left 17 members of the police injured, and 42 protesters, said police.

'ULTRA-VIOLENT' MINORITY

The rally coincides with the end of the public debates called by the president to try take the heat out of the protests and give voters a forum to propose policy changes.

Around half a million people turned out at town hall-style meetings held around the country over the past two months.

But many "yellow vests" dismissed the consultation exercise as a smoke-screen.

On Saturday, the police used tear gas, stun grenades and water cannon to try repel protesters who gathered at the foot of the Arc de Triomphe war memorial, which was sacked by protesters on December 1.

But for 7 hours they continued to be pelted with paving stones by mostly black-clad demonstrators.

"There are a number of people who have come just to smash things," Interior Minister Christophe Castaner said, estimating that some 1,500 "ultra-violent" activists had infiltrated the crowd.

"We have been too nice, that's why it's violent today. I'm not in favour (of violence) but we are ruled by corrupt people who dare to lecture us," Jean-Francois Bernard, a landscape gardener who was among the protesters, told AFP.

The presidency later announced that Macron was returning home from La Mongie ski resort where he and his wife Brigitte arrived Thursday to spend the weekend.

'WE WANT RESULTS' 

Protesters streamed into the capital by train and car for a rally they called an "ultimatum" to the president. Over 5,000 police were deployed, along with several armored police vehicles.

Macron was caught off guard when grassroots protesters began occupying traffic roundabouts in November over fuel taxes. He has loosened the state's purse strings to the tune of 10 billion euros ($11.2 billion) to try defuse the protests.

But the measures failed to quell the anger of the demonstrators, who accuse the former investment banker of being elitist and favoring the rich.

The Paris protest was one of several in the capital on Saturday, where tens of thousands of climate campaigners also held a demonstration to demand that the French government uphold its commitments on reducing emissions.

Yellow vest protests also took place several other French cities. At Bordeaux, in the southwest, police clashed with protesters and a bank was damaged.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Yellow vests' back on France's streets to challenge Macron

PARIS - Thousands of "yellow vest" protesters returned to the streets of France Saturday to protest against President Emmanuel Macron's policies, clashing with police in several cities in a challenge to his bid to quell the movement.

Police fired tear gas and water cannon to push back protesters at Place de la Bastille in Paris, one of the regular protest sites, as some demonstrators threw stones from a building site.

The local prefecture reported 223 arrests in Paris.

The interior ministry estimated numbers for the 11th week of protests were at 69,000 across France, compared to 84,000 last Saturday.

In Paris, the official count was 4,000 demonstrators against 7,000 the previous weekend.

Clashes erupted too in western France in Nantes and Evreux and in the southern city of Montpellier, where a police officer was injured by "a pyrotechnic device" said a statement from the local prefecture.

In Paris and other cities, the yellow vest movement had called to continue the protests into the night. But police quickly dispersed several hundred protesters in the capital's symbolic Republique square using tear gas, water cannon and stun grenades to clear the area, AFP journalists said.

The protests erupted in mid-November over Macron's economic reforms, but have since grown into a wider rallies calling for the resignation of the former investment banker who critics say is out of touch with the economic struggles of ordinary French people.

Interior Minister Christophe Castaner on Twitter criticised "rioters disguised as yellow vest protesters" after Saturday's clashes.

'KEEP THE PRESSURE ON'

The weekend's protests against Macron's tax and social policies came as divisions appeared among the yellow vests -- named after the high-visibility vests they wear -- as to where to take the movement.

In a new political development, a 31-year-old nurse named Ingrid Levavasseur said this week she would lead a yellow vest list of candidates for the European elections in May.

An initial survey in the wake of the announcement suggested they would garner a respectable 13 percent of the vote.

But not every protester appeared to welcome this development.

"There is a hard core that is ready to keep fighting," said 42-year-old Gilbert Claro from the Paris suburbs. But the movement "is not meant to be political", he added.

"We have to keep the pressure on in the streets," to get their demands accepted, said Virginie, an activist in her 40s who said she had been involved in the protests from the beginning.

She and many other protesters want a citizen-sponsored referendum so ordinary people can have more of a say in government policy.

This idea has been consistently rejected by the government, although Macron made some concessions last December in a bid to end the protests.

Recent opinion polls suggest that he has regained some of the ground lost during the crisis, as he has put his case at a series of town hall events around the country.

The "great national debate" he initiated in response to the protests has nevertheless been dismissed as a public relations operation by many yellow vest protesters.

A "masquerade", said Mathieu Styrna, a 36-year-old carpenter from northern France in Paris for the protests. His impression, he said, was that the participants had been selected.

NIGHT PROTESTS

Outside Paris, several thousand protesters were marching in Bordeaux and Toulouse in the southwest, two of the cities where support for the movement has been consistently strong.

In Bordeaux, police fired tear gas and water canon to break up small groups of protesters tossing fireworks and bottles as night fell.

In the Mediterranean port city of Marseille, members of the CGT union joined the protests and about a thousand protesters turned out in the eastern city of Lyon.

In the north, officials in the city of Evreux, Normandy, reported clashes there and damage to the police and Banque de France buildings.

For the first time on Saturday, riot police using controversial defence ball launchers (LBDs) that shoot 40-millimeter (1.6-inch) rubber and foam rounds were equipped with cameras.

A French court on Friday refused a bid brought by France's League for Human Rights (LDH) and the CGT to ban the weapons, blamed for serious injuries suffered by some demonstrators.

The police authority in Paris announced the introduction of the cameras in a move for greater transparency.

On Sunday, supporters of the government will stage their first "red scarf" protest to represent what they say is "the silent majority" defending "democracy and its institutions" and denouncing the violence of the yellow vests protests.

source: news.abs-cbn.com