Paris cleans up after a day of 鈥榶ellow vest鈥 violence
Print Edition
Paris cleaned up one of the world鈥檚 most glamorous avenues yesterday after rioting by an ultraviolent core in the dwindling 鈥測ellow vest鈥 protest movement angry at President Emmanuel Macron.
Luxury stores, restaurants and banks on the Champs-Elysees assessed damage after they were ransacked or blackened by life-threatening fires, as tourists took pictures, shop owners repaired broken windows and city workers scrubbed away graffiti.
Images of the damage 鈥 including from a bank fire that engulfed a residential building and threatened a mother and child鈥檚 life 鈥 have shocked France and seem to be further eroding public support for the fizzling four-month-old movement.
鈥淭his is disgusting. I used to have support for them, but they have gone too far. A mother and baby nearly died ... This isn鈥檛 protest 鈥 this is criminal,鈥 said Alice Giraud, a 42-year-old musician from Marseille and mother of two, who was inspecting a burnt out kiosk on the Champs-Elysees that still reeked of smoke.
Others blamed the violence on the 鈥渢hugs,鈥 a hardcore group of ultraviolent 鈥測ellow vest鈥 demonstrators that Interior Minister Christophe Castaner said comprised a mere 1,500 individuals who came into Paris just to smash things up.
鈥淭he 鈥榶ellow vest鈥 protests are dying ... They are basically getting smaller as time goes on, and the thugs are angry about that so they are expressing it in violence,鈥 said Julien, a 32-year-old baker from Paris, who wouldn鈥檛 give his last name.
About 10,000 people participated in Saturday鈥檚 Paris protest, according to France鈥檚 Interior Ministry, up from the 3,000 recorded on the Saturday before. Around the country, the ministry estimated that it was up from last week 鈥 at 32,300, compared with 28,600.
However, it was far from the 250,000 鈥測ellow vest鈥 demonstrators who protested in December 鈥 and a fraction of the 145,000 people who took part in peaceful climate marches on Saturday around France, according to the ministry鈥檚 figures.
The movement that began on November 17 last year tapped into widespread discontent with high taxes and diminishing living standards in working class provinces 鈥 and anger at Macron, seen as too friendly with the rich and powerful and out of touch with the concerns of ordinary people.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 娌狪CP璇侊細娌狪CP澶05050403鍙-1
- |
- 浜掕仈缃戞柊闂讳俊鎭湇鍔¤鍙瘉锛31120180004
- |
- 缃戠粶瑙嗗惉璁稿彲璇侊細0909346
- |
- 骞挎挱鐢佃鑺傜洰鍒朵綔璁稿彲璇侊細娌瓧绗354鍙
- |
- 澧炲肩數淇′笟鍔＄粡钀ヨ鍙瘉锛氭勃B2-20120012
Copyright 漏 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
