Yellow vests: Pillage, extreme violence and repression in Paris – 16/03/2019

Layoffs, extreme violence and repression on the Avenue des Champs-Elysees and its surroundings, in Paris. On Day 18 of the Yellow Vests demonstration, taking part in a march against the weather, a group of 1,500 activists opened and began looting and attacking the symbols of the most famous avenue of the French capital.

The Arc de Triomphe and the Hotel Le Fouquet are being attacked and destroyed by protesters since midday in France. A woman and her baby were rescued by firefighters, but 11 people were injured. Buildings that have attempted to burn are being evacuated.

Clarin Bulletins

What happened today? We tell you the most important news of the day and what will happen tomorrow when you get up

Monday to Friday afternoon.

There are at least 170 detainees, in one of the most violent days since the beginning of their protests. Another group advanced on Franklin Roosevelt Boulevard and burned down a building and tried to burn others.

Fouquets, the famous bar transformed into a five-star hotel on the avenue, was ravaged by protesters who set fire to kiosks containing newspapers and souvenirs from the surrounding area. The windows were destroyed, the walls painted with graffiti and the furniture destroyed.

Protesters seek to attack symbols of wealth such as Le Fouquet's. A fire broke out at one of the restaurant's tables and was extinguished by firefighters. Protesters pose in front of the hotel Fouquets destroyed and take selfies, with posters calling the president "King Macron". This hotel was the place where President Nicolás Sarkozy celebrated his electoral victory.

The Hugo Boss shop experienced the same fate, where the costumes were taken. Among the yellow vests, there are "thugs" or "hooligans", who direct the looting and degrade the avenue, creating barricades with what they steal, break and confront the security forces. The materials used in public works to transform Paris constitute his main weapon in the barricades.

They set fire to the vehicles, as when the French suburbs were overrun with civil disobedience in 2005. The Arc de Triomphe district is one of the most degraded amidst chaos, what which makes tourists fleeing terrified and their suitcases downhill, in a city blocked by demonstrations.

The Tarneaud bank, set on fire in the middle of the avenue, has created an impressive fire and black smoke, which makes it difficult for firefighters to intervene. The Disney shop was vandalized, as were the burned bicycles along the avenue.

The Vests and the Breakers face the CRS, the riot police, deployed in Paris as in the days following the terrorist attacks. The violence is such that the CRS are on the defensive before the advance of the "breakers" or "hooligans".

Another group of yellow jackets is moving along Franklin Roosevelt Avenue, smashing everything in its path, to join others who wish to reach the Eliseo Palace. Riots, looting and violence occur at 1,000 meters from the French presidential palace. They are hooded to avoid being identified.

The violence began at noon, when the demonstration of vests had been announced for all of France, after the movement began to lose strength.

Interior Minister Christophe Castaner said that "there are currently at least 7,000 or 8,000 protesters in Paris" and "1,500 ultra violent, who are about to break up and who stormed the Arc de Triomphe. " President Emmanuel Macron had taken a short ski holiday this weekend.