Macron wants security review after riots
EMMANUEL Macron has asked for an evaluation of security measures after a Paris demonstration against increased taxes and living costs turned into France’s worst urban riot in a decade.
Hours after flying back to the French capital from the G20 summit in Argentina, the president held an emergency meeting at the Elysée Palace while crews worked to remove burned-out cars, broken glass and graffiti from the Champs-Elysées and other sites. Police said 133 people were injured, including 23 police officers, as crowds trashed the capital’s streets on Saturday.
Officers fired tear gas and used water cannons to tackle the violence as protesters torched cars, looted stores and tagged the Arc de Triomphe with spray paint.
Paris police prefect Michel Delpuech said some officers described encountering protesters using hammers, gardening tools, bolts, aerosol cans and rocks.
Some radical far-right and far-left activists were involved in the riot, as well as a ‘great number’ of protesters wearing yellow jackets, Mr Delpuech said. The fluorescent jackets, which French motorists are required to have in their cars for emergencies, are an emblem of a grassroots citizens’ movement protesting against fuel taxes.
Rabah Mendez, a protester who marched peacefully on Saturday in Paris, said: ‘It’s difficult to reach the end of the month. People work and pay a lot of taxes and we are fed up.’ The scene in Paris contrasted sharply with protests elsewhere in France, which were mostly peaceful.
Paris prosecutor Remy Heitz said 378 people remained in police custody as of yesterday evening, 33 of them minors.
Earlier yesterday, Mr Macron asked his interior minister, Christophe Castaner, to consider making ‘adaptations’ to security procedures to try to contain protests sparked by rising fuel taxes. Mr Macron also asked prime minister Édouard Philippe to meet the heads of France’s major political parties and representatives from the grassroots movement behind the protests.