Protests against fuel tax shake Paris
PARIS — French President Emmanuel Macron asked for an evaluation of possible protest security measures Sunday, a day after a Paris demonstration against increased taxes and living costs devolved into France’s worst urban riot in a decade.
Crews worked to remove charred cars, broken glass and graffiti from the famed Champs-Elysees Avenue and other top Paris sites.
Paris police said 133 people were injured, including 23 police, as crowds trashed the streets Saturday. Officers fired tear gas and used water cannon as protesters torched cars, smashed windows, looted stores and tagged the Arc de Triomphe with spray paint.
Some officers described encountering “unprecedented” violence, including protesters using hammers, gardening tools, bolts, aerosol cans as well as rocks in physical confrontations.
Some radical far-right and far-left activists were involved in the riot, as well as a “great number” of protesters wearing yellow jackets. The fluorescent jackets, which French motorists are required to have in their cars for emergencies, are an emblem of a grassroots citizens’ movement protesting fuel taxes.
Fires were started at six buildings and more than 130 makeshift barricades and 112 vehicles were torched.
A Paris prosecutor said 378 people remained in police custody as of Sunday evening, 33 of them minors.
Earlier Sunday, Macron visited the Arc de Triomphe.