Quote:Macron visits Arc de Triomphe after riots tear parts of Paris apart
More than 400 people are arrested in Paris as 133 people, including 23 police officers,
are injured during fuel tax riots.
'France's president has visited the graffiti-damaged Arc de Triomphe after hundreds of people
were arrested during the country's worst riots in 50 years.
Police in Paris said 23 officers were among 133 people who have been injured since violence
flared on Saturday afternoon, tearing parts of the capital apart...'
My nephew policeman told me that a 'legitimate protester' was crushed by barriers and another
lost a hand in the riots.
Quote:'...Out of the 412 arrested, 378 are in police custody, while the interior minister Christophe Castaner
aid about 3,000 people were suspected of having taken part in the Paris violence which marks the
worst unrest the capital has seen since 1968.
Across France, 75,000 people were estimated to have engaged in protests on Saturday, marking
the third weekend in a row of protests. One person died on Sunday morning near Arles, in the south
of France, after an accident at a roadblock created by protesters, the local prosecutor said.
Activists dressed in hi-vis jackets torched cars, smashed windows, looted stores and vandalised the
Arc de Triomphe as thousands took part in a protest against rising fuel taxes and President Emmanuel
Macron's liberal economic reforms.
Benjamin Griveaux, a government spokesman, on Sunday morning said France would consider
imposing a state of emergency to prevent further unrest, and is urging peaceful protesters to get
around the negotiating table.
He told Europe 1 radio: "It is out of the question that each weekend becomes a meeting or ritual for
violence." A government spokesman said it is open to dialogue but will not change course.
However, a French government source said during an emergency meeting on Sunday afternoon Mr
Macron did not discuss imposing a state of emergency, Reuters news agency reported.
They said the ministers instead spoke about adapting security forces for future protests.
Hours before, Mr Macron headed straight to the Arc de Triomphe, where city employees had scrubbed
off some of the graffiti, from the airport where he arrived after the Buenos Aires G20 summit.
He was booed by passers-by as he visited the scene of Saturday's violence.
The National Police Alliance had called for a state of emergency, with the deputy national secretary Loic
Travers accusing Paris police of failing to filter out "people with bad intentions" before they came to the
protests.
Protesters have been wearing the yellow vests which French drivers must carry, prompting the
demonstrations to be called Gilets Jaunes - yellow vests...'
Remember that earlier, Sky News used the word 'obliged' in regards of having a high-viz vest in your
vehicle. See...? mainstream news can say things without researching!
Quote:'...The protests erupted out of nowhere on 17 November in reaction to rising fuel taxes, with social
media playing a key role in enabling hundreds of people to quickly gather in cities across France.
They quickly escalated as the protests began to also represent a growing dissatisfaction with
diminishing living conditions due to other increasing taxes.
Politicians blamed far-left and far-right supporters of infiltrating the protests and turning them violent.
The union of restaurateurs and caterers said the effect on the trade was "catastrophic", saying 50% of
tourists in Paris had cancelled their reservations or left the country early, with more and more cancelling
elsewhere in France...'
Far-Left and Far-Right...the same!
Quote:'...Groups of masked young men, some carrying metal bars and axes, were seen running through the streets.
Cars were set alight and firefighters were seen putting out large fires inside buildings near the Arc de Triomphe
as protesters filmed with their phones.
French journalist Hugo Clement was hit in the head by a projectile in Paris as he rode his scooter to a bar on
Saturday. His partner, Alexandra Rosenfeld, tweeted a picture of his face after his helmet visor was hit and
shattered, then his phone was stolen after it fell to the ground.
She said he was not working at the time and protesters quickly treated him before he was taken to hospital
and given seven stitches. The violence prompted 19 Paris Metro stations to shut down while department stores,
including the famous Galeries Lafayettes, closed early.
Benjamin Cauchy, a spokesman for Free Yellow Vests, said on Sunday that he wants a "constructive dialogue"
with the government. The protests were not contained to Paris, with yellow vest-clad protesters taking to streets
across France.
They blocked off access to a terminal at Nice airport, Marseille experienced large crowds, more than 1,000 people
were on Saint-Etienne's streets in the Loire Valley, and seven people were injured during clashes in Bordeaux -with
one losing several fingers after a pyrotechnic device exploded...'
Aaah, there it is. The guy lost fingers, but it could've been a hand. See how people see things differently, huh?
Quote:'...A total of 65,000 security forces were on duty across France, with Mr Castaner saying anybody breaking theSKY News:
law "will be very strongly sanctioned". Speaking at the G20 on Saturday evening Mr Macron said: "I will never
accept violence. "No cause justifies that authorities are attacked, that businesses are plundered, that passers-by
or journalists are threatened or that the Arc de Triomphe is defiled."...'
A surprising comment from The Guardian.
Quote:'..When the French president, Emmanuel Macron, surveyed the damage at the Arc de Triomphe after
the worst violence in central Paris for over a decade, street-cleaners had tried to diligently scrub away
graffiti saying: “Macron resign.”
They needn’t have bothered because a small crowd gathered to shout it at Macron anyway...'
Edith Head Gives Good Wardrobe.