Sunday Mirror (Northern Ireland)
700 arrests as Paris burns
POLICE fired rubber bullets and tear gas as a march by yellow-vest demonstrators on the presidential palace in Paris turned violent.
Protesters hurled flares and other projectiles as riot squads blocked their route down the Champs-Elysees.
One activist wearing a gas mask stood defiantly in front of a blazing barricade on a street nearby.
At least 55 people were injured, including three police officers, and more than 700 were arrested on the fourth weekend of anti-government action. Security was stepped up after riots injured 130 people last Saturday.
A ring of steel surrounded the Elysee Palace yesterday and 8,000 cops were on duty across Paris – matching city protesters one-to-one. The rest of France, where activists blocked roads, was guarded by 89,000 security staff.
The Eiffel Tower and the Louvre were among Paris attractions still shut amid fears of damage and looting. Shopping areas and the central Metro closed, while football games and other events were cancelled. The protests initially opposed fuel tax rises, now abandoned, but grew to take in other grievances.
US President Donald Trump tweeted yesterday: “The Paris Agreement isn’t working out so well for Paris.
“Protests and riots all over France. People don’t want to pay large sums of money, much to third world countries (that are questionably run), in order to maybe protect the environment.”
Police in Brussels, Belgium, used pepper spray on yellow-vest protesters trying to reach the EU Parliament HQ.