‘Yellow vests’ back at it
March for 16th straight week again marred by violence
PARIS:
“Yellow vest” protesters marched in cities across France for a 16th straight week in a bid to keep up pressure on French President Emmanuel Macron in demonstrations again marred by vandalism and violence.
In Paris, a man was reportedly hit in the face by a rubber bullet fired by a controversial riot control weapon, while in the southwestern city of Bordeaux an MP accused police of assaulting him.
About 39,300 people protested nationwide, including 4,000 in Paris, according to the interior ministry – down on the 46,600 turnout announced the previous weekend.
The official figures are regularly disputed by protest organisers, who argue the government is trying to portray the movement as losing support.
But at least one demonstrator in the capital appeared to acknowledge their numbers were falling.
“We are less numerous than usual, but we are there anyway and that’s essential,” said pensioner Murielle.
“We won’t give up because the situation is not going to improve, that’s for sure.”
Regarding the possible police shooting of a man with a so-called defence ball launcher, known by the French abbreviation LBDs, Paris police chief Michel Delpuech said “an internal administrative investigation has been opened”.
The weapons fire 40-millimetre rubber projectiles, considered non-lethal, but have been blamed for serious injuries to a number of demonstrators.
Macron last week rejected a call from rights watchdog the Council of Europe to suspend their use.
Elsewhere in the country, in Bordeaux, an MP from the far-left France Unbowed party, Loic Prud’homme, said police had assaulted him with batons on the edges of a march and that he had filed a formal complaint.
The local regional governor insisted police had intervened to
stop protesters taking an unauthorised route and had done their job correctly.
In the western city of Nantes, police fired rubber bullets, tear gas and water cannon to disperse demonstrators, some of whom hurled projectiles including petrol bombs and bottles containing acid.
“There has been a lot of damage... bus shelters, a bank branch, a travel
agency, a business,” said Claude d’Harcourt, a regional governor for the Nantes area.
There was also trouble in Nice, Strasbourg and Lille, where protesters marched carrying signs and banners.
Police used teargas elsewhere in the country, including at protests in Bordeaux, Morlaix, Arles and Lyon. — AFP