PARIS, Nov 17 (NNN-XINHUA) – Violence erupted Saturday, in Paris, where Yellow Vests movement staged a fresh action, to mark its first anniversary, amid continued social unrest over President Emmanuel Macron’s economic reforms.
Tear gas clouds rose into the air near Porte d’Italie in southern Paris, where first clashes between police and protesters broke out early in the morning, after a few hundred demonstrators set on fire barricades and threw projectiles at police officers.
Police responded with tear gas to disperse the crowd. It also intervened to clear the Peripherique ring, which “Yellow Vest” tried to occupy.
Tension flared further after a group of masked youth tried to vandalise a shopping centre. They overturned many vehicles and torched several bins in Place d’Italie.
By 15:00 local time (14:00 GMT), 61 individuals were arrested and more than 1,400 preventive checks had been carried out, according to Paris prefecture.
Authorities banned protests in the Champs Elysees avenue, the Arc de Triomphe monument, and near the National Assembly, which had been the flash-points of clashes and vandalism in last year’s social unrest.
Amid continued social uproar over the government’s economic and fiscal road-map, which protesters say favour the rich, “Yellow Vests” are planning 270 rallies and blockades for this weekend.
On Nov 17, 2018, the movement, which got its name from the high visibility vests drivers keep in their cars, started as a campaign against an increase in diesel’s price, most commonly used car fuel in France, that Macron said is necessary to combat climate change.
It had been morphed into social rebellion with sometimes violent action, causing weekly chaos in French cities, notably in Paris.
A year on, and despite billion-euro sweeteners Macron has already offered to defuse the tension, “many thousands of people” are set to participate in the 53rd act, suggesting that, the gloom in the Elysee Palace is not over, at a time when the contested pro-market reforms start to bear fruit.– NNN-XINHUA