Riot-hit Paris weighs state of emergency
MACRON HOLDS CRISIS MEETING AFTER ASSESSING DAMAGE
Overnight a motorist died after crashing a van into traffic which had built up due to a ‘‘yellow vest” demonstration in Arles, southern France. Three people have now died in incidents linked to the protests
French President Emmanuel Macron led a crisis meeting yesterday after a day of riots in Paris by antigovernment protesters left hundreds injured nationwide and widespread destruction around the capital.
Macron held emergency talks with the prime minister, interior minister and top security service officials at the presidential palace in Paris after flying in from the G20 summit in Argentina. Interior Minister Christophe Castaner said earlier yesterday that the government might declare a state of emergency.
Macron earlier assessed the damage at the Arc de Triomphe, the massive monument to France’s war dead at the top of the famous Champs Elysees avenue, where rioters scrawled graffiti and ransacked the ticketing and reception areas.
The president also saw the wreckage of burnt-out cars and debris from rioting at other sites, where he praised the police but was also booed by sections of the crowd.
Paris police said 412 people were arrested on Saturday during the worst clashes for years in the capital and 378 remained in custody.
A total of 263 people were injured nationwide, with 133 injured in the capital, including 23 members of the security forces who battled rioters for most of the day in famous parts of the city. “I will never accept violence,” Macron told a news conference in Buenos Aires before flying home.
Thousands of masked protesters fought running battles with the French police in central Paris on Saturday, set fire to cars, banks and houses and burned makeshift barricades on the edges of demonstrations against fuel tax rises, the worst unrest in decades. Yesterday, Paris authorities hired extra trucks to begin removing the carcasses of burnt cars from the scorched pavements of some of Paris’s most expensive streets, amid graffiti calling for President Emmanuel Macron to resign.
What happened on Saturday?
Piles of teargas canisters littered broken pavements in front of rows of shattered shop fronts and smashed windows, as TV channels showed non-stop footage of central Paris in flames during Saturday’s events. More than 400 people were arrested on Saturday, with over 300 still in police custody yesterday. More than 130 people were injured, while one protester who was in coma died yesterday.
How did it start?
Violence erupted on the margins of anti-fuel tax demonstrations held by the citizens’ protest movement known as the Gilets Jaunes — or Yellow Vests. Speaking from the G20 meeting in Argentina, Macron said he would “never accept violence”. He added: “No cause justifies that security forces are attacked, shops pillaged, public or private buildings set on fire, pedestrians or journalists threatened or that the Arc de Triomphe is sullied.”
What is Macron doing about it?
The president said that the peaceful demonstrators had legitimate concerns and he would hear their “anger”, added their demonstrations had been infiltrated by violent rioters who would be brought to trial in court. Macron, who has staked his political identity on a vow to never give in to street protests, is now under pressure to find a way to calm the growing mood of social revolt in France, which has taken him by surprise. Yesterday, Macron immediately went to the Arc de Triomphe after returning to Paris from Argentina to assess the damage from riots. TV images showed the inside of the monument ransacked with a statue of Marianne, a symbol of the French republic, smashed, and graffiti sprawled on the exterior ranging from anti-capitalist slogans to social demands.
What are the protesters demanding?
In Paris, riot police started firing the first tear-gas early on Saturday morning, as peaceful gilets
jaunes arrived at the Champs Elysees. The spontaneous citizens’ movement, began in midNovember protesting against rising fuel taxes but it has morphed into a much broader anti-government and anti-Macron one challenging inequality and poor living standards. Slogans painted along Paris’s most expensive streets on Saturday slammed the young, centrist, pro-business president as a symbol of an elite cut off from the people.
What steps have police taken?
The Champs Elysees was closed to cars and tightly monitored by police, with identity and bag checks taking place as shop workers boarded windows and dismantled outdoor terraces. But peaceful protesters complained that the use of teargas had begun very early in the morning as they attempted to access the Champs Elysees. Some 5,000 peaceful Gilets Jaunes demonstrators marched down the Champs Elysees at midday on Saturday, some
carrying roses, many shouting: “Macron, resign!” and singing the national anthem.
How did peaceful protests turn into violent riots?
By early afternoon, the Arc de Triomphe was surrounded by masked protesters fighting running battles with police. The interior minister Christophe Castaner said thousands of troublemakers unconnected to the peaceful demonstrations had deliberately come to “pillage, smash, steal, wound and even kill”. He called them rioters who were “professionals at causing disorder”.
How did the riots play out in the evening?
Near the Arc de Triomphe, masked men burned barricades, set fire to buildings, smashed Top left: A burned car in a Paris street yesterday, a day after clashes during a protest by Yellow Vests. AFP Left: Macron shakes hands with a firefighter during a visit in the streets of Paris yesterday, a day after Yellow Vests protests. AFP Far left: Demonstrators clash with riot police at the Arc de Triomphe during the protests. AFP fences and torched luxury cars as riot police fired teargas and water-cannon. Anti-Macron graffiti was scrawled over the Arc de Triomphe near the tomb of the unknown soldier and protesters then burst into the 19th century monument smashing up its lower floors, destroying the gift shop and smashing up statues, before climbing onto the roof.