"Yellow Vests": violence has returned to the streets of Paris

After weeks in which the French political movement has been lifted, 18 weeks ago, in a complaint against French President Emmanuel Macron for rising fuel prices and the high cost of living – he was losing membership and strength in his mobilizations – it is estimated that during the first mobilization, they participated 280 thousand people and last week only 40,000, this Saturday, the demonstrations took a new momentum with a big demonstration in Paris marked by hard confrontations with the police and multiple looting of companies.

The particularity of this last mobilization was the acts of violence which were recorded, which began shortly before noon on the famous Avenue de la Champs Elysees, where several thousand protesters had gathered, reported the local news agency AFP.

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While some groups were chanting anti-capitalist or anti-political slogans, others were barricades or shops attacked – Hugo Boss, Lacoste, Nespresso, among others – and restaurants like the famous Fouquet & # 39; s, frequented by celebrities, describe the Parisian press.

A short distance from the broken glbad, next to the Triumphal arch, other protesters, many dressed in black and wearing a hood or helmet on their head, They threw paving stones at the police, who fought back with tear gas and water cannons.. According to images broadcast by television, a group allegedly attempted to attack a gendarmerie truck.

It had been weeks since scenes of looting and clashes like this one had been seen in Paris, recalling those recorded on the same Champs-Elysees in late November and early December, and whose images were circumnavigating the world. A short distance from the broken windows, near the Arc de Triomphe, other protesters, dressed in black and wearing a hood or helmet, threw stones at the security forces, who fought back with gas cannons and water cannons.

According to a report published by the police in the middle of the morning, 31 people were arrested.

While the "yellow vests"They had already had this type of incident, a few weeks ago, we had not seen scenes of looting and confrontations like these in Paris. The last time similar situations have been recorded it was in the same Champs Elysees at the end of November and principles of Decemberand whose images have been around the world.

The Minister of the Interior, Christophe Castaner, denounced the acts of "professionals of destruction and disorder" and asked the police to react with "the utmost firmness to these inadmissible attacks". According to figures reported by the Minister, some 7,000 to 8,000 people demonstrated Saturday in the French capital, 1,500 of them violently.According to images broadcast by television, another group reportedly attempted to attack a gendarmerie truck. A police source interviewed by AFP said there were "many factors suggesting that today's mobilization could be greater than that of previous Saturdays", due in particular to the presence of ultraviolet groups.

The number of protesters has decreased in recent weeks. According to the figures of the Ministry of the Interior – "vests the "yellows" are asking questions – there were 28,600 in France last week, a tenth of the 282,000 who took to the streets on November 17, the date of the beginning of the movement, presented as an "ultimatum" to the President Macron 18th of the mobilization against the fiscal and social policy of the French government, comes after a series of debates in France with which the government hoped to channel the anger of the demonstrators and to emerge concrete proposals.

"We demobilized a bit last week but we are not dead, Macron! Let's go for you!"said Murielle, a "yellow vest" who took part in a march that left northwestern Paris. Several figures of this apolitical movement organized on social networks invited their supporters to converge on the capital. "We are looking forward to those of Toulouse, those of Bordeaux, those of Marseille …", said the driver of the truck Eric Drouet, one of the leaders of the "vests yellows ", who said expect reinforcements from Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands and Poland.

DyR / H.B.