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PARIS (Reuters) – Tens of thousands of people will mobilize Saturday in Paris to face rising fuel costs and economic policies of President Emmanuel Macron, the second weekend of protests against the "yellow vest" that have leads to national upheavals.
PHOTO FILE: People wearing yellow vests, symbol of a demonstration of French drivers against the rising price of gasoline, block the highway in Antibes, France on November 17, 2018. REUTERS / Eric Gaillard / Photo File
Security forces fear that far-right and far-right extremists will infiltrate the protests, compounding the problems of crowd control. About 30,000 people are expected to demonstrate in Paris alone, Denis Jacob, secretary general of the Alternative Police union, told Reuters.
"We know that there are infiltrators of the far right and the far left. You can also expect suburban gangs and "black blocks", he said, referring to a militant protest force.
Some 3,000 police officers were recruited Saturday in Paris, announced the city hall, the security forces to organize a demonstration against sexual violence, a football match and a rugby match in the capital.
For more than a week, the protesters, dressed in the fluorescent jacket that all French motorists must have in their car, have blocked highways across the country with barricades on fire and convoys of slow trucks, preventing the Access to fuel depots, shopping centers and some of the factories.
They oppose the taxes Macron introduced last year on diesel and gasoline to encourage citizens to opt for greener transportation. Along with the tax, the government offered incentives to buy green or electric vehicles.
Last Saturday, when nearly 300,000 people took part in the first yellow vest events across the country, retailers' daily incomes dropped by 35%, according to consumer groups.
The troubles are a dilemma for Macron, who claims to be a champion of climate change, but has been ridiculed as being out of touch with ordinary people and fighting a decline in popularity.
In Paris, authorities cleared a rally near the Eiffel Tower on Saturday but rejected the protest requests on the Place de la Concorde, near the National Assembly and Presidential Palace of the Elysee. The tower itself will be closed to the public.
Despite calls for calm from the government, demonstrations against the yellow vest have spread to French territories abroad, especially to the island of Reunion, in the Indian Ocean, where cars were burned.
The unrest left two dead and 606 wounded in metropolitan France, the Interior Ministry said Thursday.
While the non-leader movement began as a brutal reaction to rising fuel prices, it drew more frustration at the feeling of pressure on the spending power of households under the government. Macron, 18 months old.
French retailers warned Friday that protests across the country could derail the crucial Christmas shopping season that began with the Black Friday cuts.
Despite the disruption, an Elabe poll for BFM TV showed that 70% of French people still approve the movement of the yellow vest.
Since coming to power, Macron has witnessed union and street protests against changes in labor regulations and reshaped the heavily indebted railroad operator. Foreign investors have largely applauded its pro-business administration.
But his political opponents dismissed him from the "president of the rich" for ending a wealth tax, and voters seem more and more worried. The popularity of the 40-year-old president has fallen by just 20%.
Edited by Luke Baker and Mark Heinrich
