Police charge against yellow vests, which are becoming less and less

Protesters of the French movement of yellow vests again came out yesterday, mainly with peaceful demonstrations and skirmishes in some places, now pressure on President Emmanuel Macron despite internal divisions and growing concerns about the violence of demonstrations, that muddy the future of the movement in its eleventh week.

The eleventh day of events brought together some 22,000 people throughout the French territory and 2,500 in Paris, compared to 27,000 and 7,000 respectively the previous week.

Cars on fire

There have been several demonstrations against the government in Paris and in other cities, focused on Macron policies which, according to many people, favor the rich. France has deployed some 80,000 police to patrol rallies and disperse troublesome protesters. Some of the participants burned cars in the village of Evreux in Normandy.

In Paris, people gathered in front of the headquarters of the lower house of the French Parliament. Police fired tear gas at protesters who threw objects at the symbolic Plaza de la Bastille. Armored vehicles surrounded the Arc de Triomphe as a group of protesters invaded the Champs-Elysees, where a riot had occurred recently.

Some of the leaders of the yellow vests want to keep up the tone against the government by organizing nocturnal demonstrations, outside the daytime protests. Two groups planned nocturnal demonstrations on the Place de la Republique, in the east of Paris, and some protesters disobeyed the police and stayed there all night.

Macron undermined support for the movement by playing an active role in a national debate that took place a few days ago in villages across the country to address protesters' concerns. Protesters on the Champs-Elysees called the Macron national debate a "smoke curtain" to distract the French from the president's policy in favor of companies.