Hundreds of Yellow Vests held in Paris by riot police using gas and rubber bullets
one of the capital’s main shopping districts, near famed department stores Galeries Lafayette and Printemps, and the Palais Garnier opera house.
Prized monuments and normally bustling shopping meccas were locked down at the height of the festive retail season as protesters cond e m n e d President Emmanuel Macron and France’s high taxes.
The Eiffel Tower and Louvre Museum were among tourist attractions that remained closed, fearing damage after rioting and looting last Saturday that saw
130 people injured.
Clashes last weekend were among the worst seen in the French capital for decades, with four people being killed in accidents since the unrest began on November 17.
The movement, dubbed the yellow vests, started as an opposition to fuel tax rises but ministers say it has been hijacked by “ultra- violent” protesters. The name comes from the hi- vis vests that all French motorists are required to keep in their cars.
Some 8,000 police officers and 12 armoured vehicles were deployed in Paris yesterday, and nearly 90,000 officers
w e re on duty across the country. Mr Macron’s government had warned that the yellow vest protests had created a “monster” and the Paris actions would be hijacked by “radicalised and rebellious” crowds.
Interior minister Christophe Castaner urged for calm, and said: “I ask the yellow vests that want to bring about a peaceful message to not go with the violent people. We know that the violent people are only strong because they hide themselves within the yellow vests, which hampers the security forces.”
Mr Ma c r o n has been largely invisible in recent days, leaving his prime minister and government to try to negotiate with protesters.
Parts of Paris looked like they were bracing for a hurricane, with boards on wind ows cov e r i n g up the Christmas decorations.
Offshoot movements have emerged elsewhere, and yellow vest protests were held yesterday in Belgium and the Netherlands.
Hundreds of protesters calling for the resignation of Belgian pr ime minister Charles Michel marched on the European quarter of Brussels, while in the Dutch city of Rotterdam, a few hund re d p ro t e s t e r s walked peacefully across the Erasmus Bridge singing and handing flowers to passers-by.