France counts cost of ‘disastrous’ protests
Macron’s approval rating plunges to below 20pc as a record 1,700 people are arrested in a single day
The French finance minister warned that the country’s worst street protests in decades were “an economic disaster” as burnt-out cars and debris were cleared from the streets of Paris and other cities yesterday. “It’s a catastrophe for trade. It’s a catastrophe for our economy,” said Bruno Le Maire. Mr Le Maire promised that the state and insurance companies would foot the repair bill. Emmanuel Macron will today meet trade unions and employers’ organisations.
THE French finance minister warned that the country’s worst street protests in decades were “an economic disaster” as burnt-out cars and debris were cleared from the streets of Paris and other cities yesterday.
“It’s a catastrophe for trade. It’s a catastrophe for our economy,” said Bruno Le Maire, a conservative serving under Emmanuel Macron, the embattled centrist president who came to power last year promising to modernise France with sweeping pro-business reforms.
Mr Le Maire promised that the state and insurance companies would foot the repair bill. Tax payments due at the end of the year will be postponed for retailers whose shops were ransacked two weeks before Christmas, he said.
Dozens of cars were torched in the capital on Saturday as protesters roared “Macron resign”. Clashes also broke out in Marseille, Bordeaux, Lyon and Toulouse during the fourth consecutive weekend of protests.
Mr Macron will today meet representatives of trade unions, employers’ organisations and associations of local elected officials, reports said yesterday.
The meeting, due to take place at 10am local time, is designed to “bring together all the political, territorial, economic and social forces at these difficult times for the nation, in order to hear their voices and proposals with a view to mobilise them into action”, a source told AFP.
Tourism has suffered a blow, with Paris hotel bookings over Christmas and New Year, normally a busy period, down by at least 20 per cent.
Emmanuel Grégoire, the city’s deputy mayor, said the damage to property was worse than in the previous weekend’s riots. He said: “The protests spread over a much larger area, so many more places were hit.”
However, there was less violence, thanks to an increase in police numbers and more efficient tactics. Officers swiftly detained troublemakers, arresting more than 1,700 people, a record for a single day in post-war France.
Jean-yves Le Drian, the foreign minister, rebuked Donald Trump for a provocative tweet in which he appeared to back the protesters and claimed they were chanting his name on the streets of Paris. Daily Telegraph reporters, placed across the city, heard no such chants.
“We do not take part in domestic American politics and we want that to be reciprocated,” Mr Le Drian said.
Thousands of protesters blockaded petrol stations and barricaded roads across the country on Sunday.
Thomas Lebrun, 62, demonstrating near Vierzon, in central France, said: “We won’t stop until our demands are met. We want action not words.”
‘All of the problems of the “yellow vests” can’t be settled by simply waving a magic wand’
The increasingly unpopular president is expected to make a televised address to the nation today or tomorrow. Under fire for remaining silent for the past week, Mr Macron’s approval ratings have plunged to a record low of below 20 per cent.
With critics accusing him of being arrogant and remote, he faces an enormous challenge in trying to win back public support amid the most serious unrest since students and workers rioted in May 1968.
He has already scrapped increases in “green” taxes on fuel, but the protesters want further concessions such as tax cuts for people on low incomes and tax increases for businesses.
Such measures would mark a humiliating U-turn for the president, who has been trying to attract foreign investors and entice banks and finance companies to relocate from London to Paris by offering tax breaks.
Benjamin Griveaux, the government spokesman, warned: “All the problems of the ‘yellow vests’ can’t be settled by waving a magic wand.” But he added that Mr Macron would make “important announcements”.
According to French media, he may raise the minimum wage and pensions, and introduce a tax-free bonus for workers on low incomes. The “yellowvest” movement, which takes its name from the hi-vis jackets worn by demonstrators, began as a protest against fuel tax increases four weeks ago.
It has since widened to encompass a range of demands such as 40 per cent increases in the minimum wage and benefits, and the re-introduction of a wealth tax on high earners, scrapped by Mr Macron as part of a drive to promote investment.
French intelligence is investigating claims that the movement, which began on social media, spread with the help of Russian trolls. Hundreds of social media accounts linked to Russia allegedly played a role in spreading disinformation, but officials said no evidence of Russian state involvement had been uncovered so far.