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Yellow Vest protestors block factory in eastern France

Anadolu Agency ECONOMY
Published December 22,2018
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French police arrested 14 Yellow Vest protesters late Thursday when a group of protesters blocked a car factory in the east of the country, local media reported.

The protesters blocked the entrance and the exit of a car factory in the eastern city of Pfastatt.

Police reportedly sprayed tear gas on protestors to disperse them.

The Yellow Vest protesters also blocked 200 roads across the country on Friday, according to the country's Interior Ministry.

French police have opened around 300 blocked roads since Dec. 15, it added.

The protesters, who are set to gather in the sixth week on Saturday, will meet at Versailles Palace for the first time since the start of the demonstrations.

The palace will close its gates and intense security measures will be taken around it due to the planned protests.

Yellow Vest protests, which started as a reaction to fuel tax hikes and evolved into an uprising against French President Emmanuel Macron, continue despite the government's call to halt it.

Since Nov. 17, thousands of protesters wearing bright yellow vests -- dubbed the Yellow Vests -- have gathered in major French cities, including the capital Paris, to protest Macron's controversial fuel tax hikes and the deteriorating economic situation.

Demonstrators held number of protests blocking roads and traffic, as well as blocked the entrance and exits of many petrol stations and factories across the country.

The protestors, who generally live in rural areas due to high rents in the cities, have called on Macron to cut fuel taxes and ease their economic difficulties.

Under pressure from the protests, Macron announced a raise in the minimum wage and also scuttled controversial fuel tax hikes.

At least eight people died, over 4,000 others were detained and more than a thousand others wounded in the protests.