Paris engulfed in violence again despite extra security
The mounted officers advanced behind ranks of police on foot holding up their shields like Roman legionaries. In front of them, on the fashionable Rue de Bretagne in central Paris, were the ‘‘yellow-vest’’ protesters and masked, black-clad youths, sending shoppers and patrons of pavement cafes scurrying indoors for cover.
‘‘No one was expecting trouble in this area,’’ Francoise Perrin, 43, an -observer, told The Sunday Telegraph.
Perrin, one of dozens of terrified Parisians and tourists in the historic Marais district caught between a mob of protesters and riot police on horseback, added: ‘‘We were just about to order a drink, then we looked up and saw what looked like a military formation heading towards us. Then we looked the other way, and saw the protesters. We got the fright of our lives.’’
The police managed to prevent the mob from looting shops, smashing windows or attacking parked cars, pursuing them through the narrow medieval streets of one of Paris’s oldest and most picturesque quarters.
But other parts of Paris were severely battered by clashes. An estimated 8000 demonstrators marched through the streets on a ‘‘day of rage’’ as the authority of Emmanuel Macron, the president, was challenged by a fourth consecutive weekend of protests across France.
There were an estimated 125,000 protesters across France, with 1385 arrests – a record for a single day in postwar France. More than 700 were detained in Paris alone.
At least 135 people were injured, including three police officers. The emblematic Parisian avenue, the Champs-Elysees, was shrouded in tear gas and echoed to the sound of stun grenades as police battled a crowd of more than 1000, who sang the Marseillaise and chanted ‘‘Macron resign’’.
Police demolished burning barricades with armoured vehicles, deployed for the first time in the heart of Paris. Officers fired repeated salvoes of tear gas and water cannon to drive back and disperse protesters. But they regrouped and moved on, sometimes returning to confront the police minutes later.
Some protesters torched parked cars and ripped up chunks of concrete from the street and hurled them at police, but the majority remained relatively peaceful.
Several banners called for ‘‘Frexit now!’’ Many protesters said they wanted a referendum on an exit from the EU. Bertrand Deschamps, 33, a building worker from Nantes, in western France, said: ‘‘The first thing that brought us into the streets was increases in fuel taxes and the high cost of living, but we believe France needs massive change.
‘‘We’re like the Brits who voted for Brexit, we’re the people who the politicians in Paris have never had to listen to before, but they’re going to have to listen now. If not, it’s revolution.’’
Department stores, restaurants and cafes were boarded up or shuttered in the main shopping areas, losing vital Christmas trade. Pitched battles last weekend left shop fronts and cafe windows smashed on the Champs-Elysees and in nearby areas.
The Eiffel Tower, the Louvre and most other museums and tourist attractions also closed.
– The Times