Paris police call for army to help combat ‘urban guerrilla’ riots
EMMANUEL MACRON yesterday faced police calls to bring in the army to defend Paris from “yellow vest” attacks following last Saturday’s riots.
The police unions’ plea came as the government held crisis talks with the leaders of all of France’s political parties, many of whom urged the president to instantly scrap “green” fuel tax rises to avoid the country spiralling into a state of insurrection.
The three-week revolt has exposed a deep malaise over high taxation, the price of living and a sense of social injustice. Much of the ire has been directed against Mr Macron, with many protesters complaining he is an arrogant and out-of-touch “president of the rich”. Several regional state prefects – civil servants normally sworn to silence – were cited by Le Monde as criticising the “Parisian arrogance” of his government, cut off from poor provincial France and in a “technocratic bubble” that was “without feelers”.
One was cited as describing the situation as “pre-revolutionary”.
Edouard Philippe, the prime minister, was due to announce new conciliatory “measures” in what observers are calling a “race against time” to prevent a fresh bout of violence. He has ordered a parliamentary debate on the crisis tomorrow.
On Saturday, masked protesters fought running battles with riot police, smashing and looting shops, setting fire to banks and even targeting cherished symbols of the French Republic – chief among them the Arc de Triomphe.
Four people have died in incidents linked to the revolt around the country, with one protester in Paris in a critical condition after being crushed by a giant railing in the Tuileries Garden.
Some 682 arrests took place around France, including 426 in Paris, with 57 people due to receive fast-track sentences yesterday. Some 133 people were injured, including 23 police in the capital. With calls on social media for fresh protests in Paris next Saturday, several police unions urged the government to bring in the army as their men were “exhausted”.
Petrol bombs, rocks and even hammers were thrown at the weekend, while one officer narrowly escaped a lynching. David Le Bars, secretary general of the police chiefs’ union SCPN,
‘If it kicks off like that next Saturday, there will be injuries and deaths among security forces’
said soldiers should be drafted in as “reinforcements” to free up riot police against highly mobile vandals.
Up to 10,000 troops have been patrolling sensitive sites around France since the 2015 Paris terror attacks, but have not been used to protect landmarks during demonstrations.
“We must accept to free up security forces from a static form. We’re no longer talking about classic demonstrations but a phenomenon of urban guerrilla,” said Mr Le Bars.
Jean-claude Delage, head of the main officers’ union, Alliance, warned: “If it kicks off like that next Saturday, there will be injuries and deaths among security forces.”
With thousands of “yellow vests” continuing to block roads around France, 4,000 lorries were stuck on the border of Spain, said local Catalan authorities. Food industry representatives warned that the blockages risked costing €13.5 billion (£12 billion) over the festive season, while hauliers said they had already lost €400million.
Despite Saturday’s violence, 72 per cent of French continue to support the protests, a Harris Interactive poll suggested. After meeting the prime minister, Laurent Wauquiez, head of the conservative Republicans party, said: “The only act that would restore peace would be to scrap tax hikes.”
Marine Le Pen, head of the far-right National Rally, warned Mr Macron had “only a few more hours” to stop the revolt spiralling out of control, and said he risked becoming “the first president in half a century to give the order to fire on French people”.