New year brings more fires, tear gas
French security forces fired tear gas and flash-balls after a march through central Paris went from peaceful to provocative as protesters staged the yellow vest movement’s first action of 2019 to keep up pressure on President Emmanuel Macron.
A river boat restaurant moored below the clashes on the Left Bank of the Seine River caught fire. Smoke and tear gas wafted above the Musee d’Orsay and the gold dome of the French Academy as riot police moved front and centre when protesters deviated from an officially approved path.
Police boats patrolled the river while beyond the Seine, motorcycles and a car were set on fire on the Boulevard Saint Germain.
When protesters made their way to the Champs-Elysees Avenue, riot police moved in with a water cannon. A line of parked cars burned on a nearby street.
In a first, the building housing the office of the French government spokesman was attacked. Benjamin Griveaux was evacuated from his Left Bank office at the Ministry for Parliamentary Relations after the front door was partially destroyed.
“It wasn’t me who was attacked . . . It was the institutions, the democratic form of government,” Griveaux said later, explaining on French TV that he and a half-dozen colleagues were taken out a back door while a group attacked the front door with construction equipment.
It was the first such attack on government property since the movement began weekly protests eight weekends ago, in mid November. Protesters have tried to reach the presidential Elysee Palace, which is protected like a bunker.
The latest demonstration was a test of the movement’s staying power after proposals by Macron to address concerns of people who have a hard time making ends meet, including cancelling the fuel tax hike at the origin of the protests. Interior Minister Christophe Castaner estimated that about 50,000 people protested around France. Police estimated 3500 protesters in Paris.
Numbers are well down since November. Protesters were looking to breathe new life into the movement.