[CBC] French firefighters are working to extinguish a blaze in a Paris restaurant seen as a powerful symbol of France's elite that was torched amid yellow vest protest violence.The flames pouring out of the posh eatery Fouquet's on the Champs-Elysées marked one of the most powerful images on a day of unusual unrest in the French capital.
The restaurant was vandalized Saturday morning and later set ablaze. Several luxury boutiques along the elegant avenue were also ransacked, and kiosks set on fire.
Fouquet's is popular among celebrities and powerbrokers.
Critics see the place as an offensive example of bourgeois decadence that is inaccessible to most French people, who are struggling to pay their bills.
It's also associated with former conservative president Nicolas Sarkozy, who celebrated his 2007 election victory in Fouquet's ‐ drawing criticism for his choice of such a flashy locale.
Paris climate rally draws 45,000 people: Media estimate
[AlAhram] Around 45,000 climate campaigners marched in Gay Paree Saturday to condemn what they called the French government's "inaction" on climate change, according to an estimate by several media.
The organisers of the march through the centre of the city, which coincided with "yellow vests" riots in the west, estimated that 107,000 people took part while the police put the figure at 36,000.