France: 'Gilets jaunes' protests turn violent

France has experienced one of the largest uprisings that it has seen for many years. Protests took place across the country on 24 November and began peacefully but were said to be infiltrated by far-right extremists. 106,000 people took part in protests across France, and of those 130 were arrested, 42 of those arrests taking place in Paris.
In central Paris rioters vandalized, paving stones breaking and throwing them at the police alongside other objects. The same group also built barricades that they then set alight, leaving a total of 19 people injured. 
The ‘Gilets jaunes’ protests have been ongoing around France, and its overseas territories, since 17 November. Protests initially began peacefully when the ‘gilets jaunes’ blocked roads and caused traffic chaos in towns around France.
The movement has been dubbed ‘les gilets jaunes’, or the yellow vests, representative of the hi-vis jackets they wear. The group organised protests using social media and staged stands and barricades at tollbooths, roundabouts and fuel depots across the country. The primary goal of protestors was to demand a freeze on the increase in fuel tax.
However, things became violent over the weekend resulting in police and security services used tear gas and water cannons in an attempt to quell protestors, and unblock barricades on Paris’s iconic Champs-Élysées.
What started as peaceful protests against the rise in fuel prices due to a newly imposed fuel tax by French President Macron, has now spread and widened into an uprising over wider socio-economic inequalities in France.
A poll by French newspaper ‘Le Figaro’ demonstrated the feeling of unease amongst the French people and showed that 66% of French people believed that the movement should continue, and 82% believed that the government should cancel plans for the fuel tax increase.

Violence

The violence over the last week has seen one protestor die after being accidentally run over and killed by a car, and a further 227 people injured, six severely, in protests across the country. However, some of the worst violence has been seen in France’s overseas territories. On the French Réunion island off the coast of south-east Africa, where more than 40% of the population live below the poverty line, the protests saw some of the worst violence in 30 years. The violence led to the authorities imposing a curfew in some parts of the island.
In mainland France a number of protestors expressed their dissatisfaction. The Guardian interviewed a number of protestors around France to understand their reasons for protesting. Marie, 31, a childminder from southern France has been protesting all week at a tollbooth, she said,

“People are exasperated, there is so much anger – taxes are going up, our salaries aren’t. When you work hard, it feels unfair,”

Response

The protests appear to have caught France off-guard: President Macron gave a statement condemning protestors in Paris who brought the city to a standstill on Saturday 24 November.

“Thank you to all our law enforcement, for their courage and professionalism. Shame on all the people who assaulted them,” Macron tweeted.

“Shame to those who voluntarily assaulted citizens and reporters. Shame on those who tried to intimidate our elected.”

The organisers of the protest and members of the ‘gilets jaunes’ movement also expressed their disappointment in the violence. Thierry Paul Valette one of the organisers, said,

“The objective was to unite everybody here in Paris. I am disappointed because it wasn’t meant to be like this,”

Mr Valette went on to blame the violence on a “small section” of “the extreme left and the extreme right.”

US President Donald Trump heard about the protests and tweeted,

‘The large and violent French protests don’t take into account how badly the United States has been treated on Trade by the European Union or on fair and reasonable payments for our GREAT military protection. Both of these topics must be remedied soon.’

France’s interior minister Christophe Castaner blamed the Paris violence on far-right political leader Marine le Pen. “Marine Le Pen urged people to come to the Champs Élysées, and there are members of the ultra-right putting up barriers,” Castaner said.

Le Pen responded by saying the accusations were unjust and blamed the violence on “a few rioters”. “Why did Mr Castaner let these people on to the Champs Élysées? He is responsible. It’s a strategy of tension,” she said.