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Over 1,700 arrested in latest 'yellow vest' protests in France

City authorities said the 'yellow vests' had caused 'much more damage' than on December 1

Afp December 09, 2018

Riot police officers detain a protestor. PHOTO: AFP

PARIS: More than 1,700 people were arrested across France during the latest round of "yellow vest" protests, in which demonstrators clashed with riot police, the interior ministry said Sunday.

Clashes broke out in several cities, including Marseille, Bordeaux, Lyon and Toulouse, during a fourth weekend of nationwide protests against rising living costs and President Emmanuel Macron in general.

A total 1,220 of the 1,723 detained were ordered held in custody, the ministry said.

How Facebook fuelled France's 'yellow vest' protests

Police in Paris said they made 1,082 arrests on Saturday, up sharply from 412 in the previous round.

The interior ministry said some 136,000 people took part in Saturday's protests, around the same number as on December 1.
But it was Paris which again bore the brunt of the violence and destruction.

A protestor stands near a fire. PHOTO: AFP

Protesters in the capital set fire to cars, burned barricades and smashed windows in pockets of violence, clad in their emblematic luminous safety jackets, as armoured vehicles rolled through the streets.

VIDEO: Firefighters try to extinguish scooters and cars that were set on fire near the Champs Elysees in Paris, as the French capital was hit by violence in the latest "Yellow Vest" protests against President Emmanuel Macron pic.twitter.com/mrvv5nmARY
— AFP News Agency (@AFP) December 9, 2018

Nearly 300 detained as Paris braces for 'yellow vest' protests

City authorities said the 'yellow vests' had caused "much more damage" than on December 1.

"The sector concerned by the incidents was much larger... With fewer barricades, there was much more dispersion, so many more places were impacted by violence," Paris deputy mayor Emmanuel Gregoire told France Inter radio.

The embattled president -- whose name rang out across the Champs-Elysees as protesters shouted "Macron, resign" -- is expected to address the demonstrations in a much-anticipated speech in the coming days.

COMMENTS (3)

furqan | 5 years ago | Reply I want to record my strong condemnation on this protest which is burning the beautiful country like France and has no justified reason especially after president Macron's decision to take back fuel tax, it is an absolute miscreancy and an attack on the civilized world against which all of us must stand to help France My advice in this regard would be to check the communication process through which these miscreants are communicating particularly the social media and focus on the arrest of the organisers and leaders of the protest instead of the protesters on ground and if possible cut their means of communication

Blue Whale | 5 years ago | Reply Poor little EM is only trying to bring in more reforms . I think he needs a chance .

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