Macron to break silence amid protests Wage hikes ruled out
Unrest a ‘catastrophe’ for French economy, finance minister says, as tourism impacted
PARIS — Amid loud calls for him to end the “yellow vest” crisis gripping the country, French President Emmanuel Macron was expected to address the nation late on Monday as authorities count the cost of weeks of anti-government protests.
The president will speak in his first public comments after four weeks of nationwide demonstrations which again turned violent on Saturday in Paris and other cities.
Macron, who has been the target of many protesters’ anger over his perceived pro-rich policies, was expected to announce “immediate and concrete measures” to respond to the crisis, added Labor Minister Muriel Penicaud.
Officials said riots in Paris on Saturday had been less violent than a week earlier, with fewer people injured, but damage to property across the capital was far worse.
Burned-out cars dotted the streets in several neighborhoods on Sunday as cleaners swept up the broken glass from smashed shop windows and bus stops.
“There was much more dispersion (of protesters), so many more places were impacted,” said Paris Deputy Mayor Emmanuel Gregoire. “There was much more damage.” What began as demonstrations against fuel tax hikes has ballooned into a mass movement over rising living costs.
Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said the unrest was a “catastrophe” for the French economy, with roadblocks playing havoc with traffic and riots putting off tourists from visiting Paris.
Parts of the capital went on lockdown on Saturday, with department stores shut to avoid looting, along with museums and monuments including the Eiffel Tower.
Protesters hail from rural and small-town France but have a range of different goals, from lower taxes to Macron’s resignation.
“It is clear that we underestimated people’s need to make themselves heard,” government spokesman Benjamin Griveaux said.
“It is anger that is difficult to understand from an office in Paris.”
The protests have shown little sign of easing since they began on Nov 17.
The Interior Ministry said 136,000 people took part nationwide in Saturday’s protests, which turned violent in several cities including Marseille and Toulouse.
In Paris, around 10,000 “yellow vests” flocked to the Champs-Elysees and other areas.
More than 2,000 people were detained across the country — over 1,000 of them in Paris as police vowed “zero tolerance” for troublemakers.
France’s chief prosecutor Remy Heitz said those arrested had “a very similar profile to last week”, including many far-right and farleft agitators.
Most of the protesters rounded up were men younger than 40, without previous criminal records.
The crisis facing a leader who had been hailed internationally as a youthful defender of liberal values, is being closely watched abroad.
Spain’s El Pais newspaper said it was the first time Macron was “hesitating, giving the impression that he does not know what to do”.
He has already offered protesters a string of concessions, including scrapping further fuel tax rises in 2019 — a major climbdown for a president who had vowed not to be swayed, like his predecessors, by mass protests.
But so far he has refused to back down on another policy hated by the “yellow vests”: his decision to scrap a tax on the assets of France’s wealthiest.
Penicaud on Sunday also rejected the idea of a hike in the minimum wage, saying it would have knock-on effects for the whole economy.
“We know that destroys jobs,” Penicaud told LCI television.
“If we raise all salaries automatically, many businesses would just go bust — or they would have to raise their prices, and no one would pay for their services.”