Violent rallies test Macron’s hold on power
PARIS — Pressure mounted on French President Emmanuel Macron to announce concrete measures to calm violent protests when he addresses the nation Monday evening and breaks a long silence widely seen as aggravating a crisis that has shaken the government and the country.
Macron will consult in the morning with an array of national and local officials as he tries to get a handle on the ballooning and radicalizing protest movement triggered by anger at his policies, and a growing sense that they favor the rich. He is to speak from the presidential Elysee Palace at 8 p.m.
Government spokesman Benjamin Griveaux said earlier on LCI-TV that he was “sure (Macron) will know how to find the path to the hearts of the French, speak to their hearts.” But, he added, a “magic wand” won’t solve all the problems of the protesters, known as “yellow vests” for the fluorescent safety vests they often wear.
Last week, Macron withdrew a fuel tax hike — the issue that kicked off protests in mid-November — in an effort to appease the demonstrators, but the move was seen as too little too late.
For many protesters, Macron himself, widely seen as arrogant and disconnected from rankand-file French, has become the problem. Calls for him to resign were rampant over the fourth weekend of largescale protests.
“Macron is there for the rich, not for all the French,” 68-year-old retiree Jean-Pierre Meunuer said Saturday.
Paris tourist sites reopened Sunday, while workers cleaned up debris from protests that left widespread damage in the capital and elsewhere. At least 71 were injured in Paris on Saturday. The economy minister, meanwhile, lamented the damage.
“This is a catastrophe for commerce, it’s a catastrophe for our economy,” Bruno Le Maire said Sunday while visiting merchants around the Saint Lazare train station, among areas hit by vandalism as the Christmas shopping season got under way.
The number of injured in Paris and nationwide was down Saturday from rioting a week ago. Still, TV footage broadcast around the world of the violence in Paris neighborhoods popular with tourists tarnished the country’s image.
Nearly 1,000 people were being held in custody after the Saturday protests in the French capital, Paris chief prosecutor Remy Heitz said.