Year's 1st yellow vest event in France brings tear gas, fires
French "yellow vests" marched through Paris and other cities on Saturday in protest against high living costs and the perceived indifference of President Emmanuel Macron, whose government this week hardened its stance against them. Officers fired tear gas to prevent hundreds of demonstrators crossing the river and reaching the National Assembly. One riverboat restaurant was set ablaze and a policeman wounded when he was struck by a bicycle hurled from a street above the riverbank.
- World
- AP
- Published Date: 12:00 | 05 January 2019
- Modified Date: 11:11 | 05 January 2019
The latest demonstration was a sort of test of the movement's staying power after proposals by Macron to address concerns of the French who have a hard time making ends meet, including canceling the fuel tax hikes at the origin of the protests.
Interior Minister Christophe Castaner estimated that about 50,000 people participated in protests around France on Saturday. Police counted some 3,500 protesters in Paris.
The atmosphere was initially calm in the French capital, but turned when some protesters tried to cross the river on a pedestrian bridge not on the official route from City Hall to the National Assembly, the lower house of parliament. Police used clubs and tear gas, then held the bridge in a standoff while violence broke out.