PARIS: French Capital was on lockdown with major monuments and department stores shut and some 8,000 police on the streets following the worst rioting here in decades last weekend.
Paris riot police clashed today near the famous Champs-Elysees boulevard with yellow vest protesters who are staging another weekend of demonstrations against French President Emmanuel Macron. Police fired tear gas in a bid to push back hundreds of protesters gathered around the shopping boulevard and the Arc de Triomphe monument, journalists reported. Police estimated that around 1,500 protesters had gathered in the area.
Earlier Police had arrested hundreds of people today “as a preventive measure” to avoid violence from escalating here as hundreds of “Yellow Vest” protesters were gathering for a fourth-weekend demonstration. Citing the Paris police department, BFMTV news channel said among those arrested, 32 were placed into custody on charge of “conspiracy to commit violence and degrading.” Police found in their bags stones, slings, and hammers. If convicted, they could be jailed for one year and fined 30,000 euros (34,140 U.S. dollars). The French government has beefed up security measures, including the deployment of a “significant” number of police officers and dozens of armored vehicles, to handle more threats of “great violence.”
Authorities have deployed about 89,000 security forces nationwide. In Paris, 8,000 officers have been mobilized. The “Yellow Vest” movement, which got its name from the fluorescent roadside security jackets worn by protesters, began on Nov. 17 in opposition to a rise in a carbon tax which President Emmanuel Macron said was necessary to combat climate change. The protesters were furious at rising living costs and accused the government of favoring the rich by scrapping a wealth tax and hiking fuel taxes. Under nationwide pressure, the French government has decided to drop further fuel tax hikes in 2019 and indicated that all tax-related policies would be periodically evaluated.
