PARIS — The police in Paris used tear gas and water cannons on Saturday to try to disperse protesters in “yellow vests” who were part of another wave of nationwide rallies and road blockades by drivers angry over rising fuel taxes and Emmanuel Macron’s presidency.
Clashes broke out on the Champs-Élysées after the police set up security cordons around sensitive sites in the center of the capital.
Some protesters sang the national anthem while others carried signs with slogans saying “Macron, resignation” and “Macron, thief,” according to the Reuters news agency.
France deployed thousands of police officers amid mounting tensions around a grass-roots movement that drew more than a quarter-million people to demonstrations across the country a week ago — from Provence to Normandy and in between.
The new wave of protests planned for Saturday included gatherings beneath the Eiffel Tower. Interior Minister Christophe Castaner had called for calm and promised tough police measures against unruly crowds.
Paris had been scheduled to deploy some 3,000 security forces, notably around tourist-frequented areas like the Champs-Élysées, after an unauthorized attempt this past week to march on the presidential palace.
Two people were killed and hundreds injured in the week of protests, which are posing a big challenge to Mr. Macron.
The authorities are struggling because the movement has no clear leader and has attracted a motley group of people with broadly varying demands. The protesters call themselves the “yellow jackets” after the fluorescent security vests that drivers are required to keep in their vehicles.
A man caused a dramatic standoff with police officers on Friday when he donned a fluorescent vest and brandished an apparent grenade at a supermarket in the western city of Angers. He was later arrested.
While the movement, which has no leader, began as a backlash against higher fuel prices, it has tapped into broader frustration at the sense of a squeeze on household spending power under Mr. Macron’s 18-month-old government.
The unrest is a dilemma for Mr. Macron who casts himself as a champion against climate change but has been derided as out of touch with common folk and is fighting a slump in popularity.
Mr. Macron has defended the fuel taxes as necessary to reduce France’s dependence on fossil fuels, but he promised to lay out new plans on Tuesday to make the “energy transition” easier.
Since coming to power, he has seen off trade union and street demonstrations against his changes to the labor rules, and overhauled the heavily indebted state rail operator. Foreign investors have largely cheered his pro-business administration.
But political foes have dismissed him as the “president of the rich” for ending a wealth tax, and voters appear to be growing restless, with the 40-year-old president’s popularity slumped at barely 20 percent.
Source : Nytimes
