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Paris Police Fire Tear Gas at Crowds Protesting Fuel Prices and Macron
PARIS — The police in Paris used tear gas and water cannons on Saturday to disperse protesters in “yellow vests” as thousands gathered in the capital and staged road blockades across the nation as part of a second wave of rallies against rising fuel taxes and Emmanuel Macron’s presidency.
Clashes broke out on the Champs-Élysées after the police set up security cordons around sensitive sites in the center of the capital.
Some protesters sang the national anthem while others carried signs with slogans saying “Macron, resignation” and “Macron, thief,” according to news reports. Others were seen digging up cobbles or building barricades as the police confirmed the presence of several hard-line groups on one of the city’s best-known avenues.
Thousands of police officers were deployed nationwide to contain the demonstrations, including a tense protest at the foot of the Champs-Élysées, where protesters wielded placards reading, “Death to Taxes,” and upturned a large vehicle.
No one was injured in the clashes, but six were arrested for “throwing projectiles,” the Paris police said.
“It’s going to trigger a civil war, and me, like most other citizens, we’re all ready,” said Benjamin Vrignaud, a 21-year-old protester from Chartres.
The Champs-Élysées was speckled in neon — owing to the color of the vests the myriad self-styled yellow jacket protesters wear. French drivers are required to keep neon security vests in their vehicles.
Five thousand protesters flooded the famed avenue, with 23,000 protesters total turning out nationwide so far, according to Interior Minister Christophe Castaner, who called for calm and promised tough police measures against unruly crowds.
In a week of demonstrations that has dominated national news coverage, hundreds were injured and two people died in accidents stemming from the protests, which are posing a big challenge to Mr. Macron.
Last Saturday, when nearly 300,000 people took part in the first yellow vest demonstrations countrywide, retailers’ daily revenue fell 35 percent, according to consumer groups.
The authorities are struggling because the movement has no clear leader and has attracted a motley group of people with broadly varying demands. The protesters call themselves the yellow jackets after the fluorescent security vests that drivers are required to keep in their vehicles.
A man caused a dramatic standoff with police officers on Friday when he donned a fluorescent vest and brandished an apparent grenade at a supermarket in the western city of Angers. He was later arrested.
While the movement, which has no leader, began as a backlash against higher fuel prices, it has tapped into broader frustration at the sense of a squeeze on household spending power under Mr. Macron’s 18-month-old government.
The unrest is a dilemma for Mr. Macron who casts himself as a champion against climate change but has been derided as out of touch with common folk and is fighting a slump in popularity.
Mr. Macron has defended the fuel taxes as necessary to reduce France’s dependence on fossil fuels, but he promised to lay out new plans on Tuesday to make the “energy transition” easier.
Since coming to power, he has seen off trade union and street demonstrations against his changes to the labor rules, and overhauled the heavily indebted state rail operator. Foreign investors have largely cheered his pro-business administration.
But political foes have dismissed him as the “president of the rich” for ending a wealth tax, and voters appear to be growing restless, with the 40-year-old president’s popularity slumped at barely 20 percent.
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