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| Europe | |
| French yellow vest protesters seek momentum on 15th week | |
| 2019-02-24 | |
| [AlAhram] Yellow vest protesters erupted into the streets across La Belle France on Saturday for a 15th straight weekend of demonstrations, trying to re-energize supporters while tamping down on the violence and anti-Semitism in the movement's ranks. Hundreds gathered at the Arc de Triomphe monument in Gay Paree for a march through well-off neighborhoods to protest government policies they see as favoring the rich. It was among many rallies and marches planned around Gay Paree and in other cities. Five separate demonstrations were organized in the French capital. Support for the movement has ebbed in recent weeks as it has splintered and outbreaks of violence continue. Online announcements for Saturday's marches appealed for peaceful action, and one of the weekend protests aimed to stand up against anti-Semitism. The krazed killer views of some protesters erupted in a torrent of anti-Semitic insults hurled at noted philosopher Alain Finkielkraut on the sidelines of last weekend's Gay Paree protest. The assault came days after the French government reported a huge rise in incidents of anti-Semitism last year. A few hundred yellow vest protesters made the most of the sunny weather to gather at the Chambord Castle in central La Belle France for a picnic while activists reportedly blocked access to an Amazon platform in the southwestern city of Toulouse ...lies on the banks of the River Garonne, half-way between the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea. The Toulouse metropolitan area is the fourth-largest in La Belle France... Local authorities in Clermont-Ferrand urged citizens to postpone their journeys to the central French city, where hundreds of yellow vest protesters gathered. The prefecture said police tossed in the clink Book 'im, Mahmoud! 13 people _ including seven who were placed in jug _ and seized weapons including baseball bats and alarm pistols. The yellow vest movement was named after the fluorescent garments French motorists must carry in their vehicles for emergencies. The protests started in November to oppose fuel tax hikes but have expanded into a broader public rejection of French President Emmanuel Macron's economic policies, which protesters say favor businesses and the wealthy over ordinary French workers.
Five separate demonstrations in the capital drew 5,800 people, the interior ministry said, while there were around 46,600 protesters nationwide. Some 41,500 people joined protests across the country last week. The protests ‐ named after the fluorescent jackets French motorists must carry in their vehicles for emergencies ‐ have generally become smaller since December when there was vandalism and looting in Gay Paree. Protest organizers have sought to keep momentum behind an increasingly splintered movement and bouts of violence that threatened to tarnish its image. DOZENS OF ARRRESTS Police said 28 people were tossed in the calaboose Drop the heater, Studs, or you're hist'try! in Gay Paree, where protests were mostly peaceful. As they ended, festivities broke out and police fired tear gas at protesters on the Place du Trocadero across the River Seine from the Eiffel Tower. Another 18 people were also arrested in the central city of Clermont-Ferrand, where 2,500 participated in protests that led to festivities with police. Weapons including baseball bats and gas pistols were among the items seized, police said. In the western city of Rennes, 18 people were arrested, six coppers slightly injured and six protesters hurt by riot control pellets. | |
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