Teargas and baton ammunition were adopted by fired-up riot cops on a so-called ‘Act XVIII’ Day of Rage created by the intrepid Yellow Vest movement as strife broke out on the Champs Elysee, the most prestigious avenue in the under-siege city, by 11 am, where there had now been 25 seizures.
Demonstrators targeted symbols of the luxury industry, stores including labels like Hugo Boss and Lacoste, where they destroyed, looted and torched, and an opulent restaurant called Fouquet’s, long connected with politicians and celebrities was also trashed and set aflame by the rampaging crowds who promptly turned Paris into a warzone.
A vehicle ignited outside the luxury boutique Kenzo, one of the numerous fires on and around the famed Champs Elysees. The violence kicked off when protestors hurled smoke bombs and other things at police along the famed avenue scene of repeated past rioting and they began hammering on the windows of a police van. Riot police then withdrew, with demonstrators booting the side of a large truck screaming that Macron should resign.
Gangs were targeting police and carrying out infinite acts of vandalism. Fires were being lit, including vehicles, and thousands of people were appearing all over the city, with the police already extremely stretched.
Protests were not only organised by the Yellow Vests, who are identified after their high visibility motoring jackets, but also by climate change protestors, and all were endeavouring to close in on the Elysee Palace, Macron’s official home, but were held back by barriers and rows of police.
There were 7,000-8,000 demonstrators in Paris on Saturday of which 1,500 were ultra-violent ones that were there to destroy things, but pushing a hard line, Castaner ordered police to retaliate against these unacceptable acts, rebuking those who call for disorder and that was there to ferment chaos in Paris.
About 12 members of the Yellow Vest movement have died in the blockades that were established at the major roads around France, while hundreds of others were wounded in the rioting.
The Vest had been protesting since November 17 last year, and despite a series of concessions by Macron including scrapping green taxes of diesel and petrol, there was still a continued call for him to step down.
Many were detained, including some 700 who were held in custody on a single day in Paris last December, and mounted police, water cannons, and 14 armoured vehicles competent of spreading high-intensity gas were all on standby as part of the security operation, yet they failed to stop extensive turmoil over the past few weekends, with the worst brutality coming at night, with the Vests being joined by fanatics from the far Right and the ultra-Left, as well as insurgents hell-bent on creating as much destruction as possible.
But crisis-ridden Mr Macron has not only climbed down on forcing green taxes, but raised the national minimum wage by seven per cent, and scrapped taxes on bonuses, but the Yellow Vests said their objections would continue indefinitely as they fight for even more concessions.
Just blame it on Brexit, everyone else does because this is precisely what you get when governments disregard the very people they’re supposed to serve, whether they agree with them or not they’re still only delegates there to carry out the people’s wishes and that is a fact! And it’s coming to the UK shortly.
But it’s just like us Brits to lie back and watch the government destroy our country. At least these people are taking a stand! But this country is heading the same way because there has never been a worse example of anti-democracy that’s been shown in parliament over Brexit, and whichever way people voted, you actually do have to recognise the deception and dishonesty of the speaker and the Prime Minister, and their lack of loyalty to the electorate is shocking.
