The Act IV protests by the Yellow Vest gilets jaunes began early in the day with early morning clashes breaking out in Paris
PARIS, France – Anticipating violent clashes that have broke out in the French capital and in other cities across the country over the last three weekends, the country’s capital was placed under lockdown on Saturday.
The ‘Act IV’ protests by the ‘Yellow Vest’ (gilets jaunes) began early in the day, with early morning clashes breaking out in Paris as hundreds of demonstrators took to the streets and engaged in violent clashes with the police.
The intense violence on Saturday forced the riot police deployed in the capital to fire tear gas and water cannon to disperse protesters.
Early on Saturday, the French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe announced that over 500 protesters had been detained in Paris already.
Protesters chanted slogans calling for the President Emmanuel Macron’s resignation over the previously proposed fuel price and tax hikes.
‘Robust response against troublemakers’
Ahead of the protests on Saturday, the Prime Minister Philippe delivered an address on French local television and appealed for restraint.
Philippe said, “We will do all we can so that today can be a day without violence, so that the dialogue that we started this week can continue in the best possible circumstances.”
Further, the French Interior Minister Christophe Castaner was quoted as saying in a report on the news site Brut, “We have prepared a robust response. The troublemakers can only be effective when they disguise themselves as yellow vests. Violence is never a good way to get what you want. Now is the time for discussion.”
He urged protesters to make their voices heard peacefully and to not get mixed up with “hooligans.”
According to authorities, nearly 89,000 police officials were deployed across France on Saturday, with 8,000 cops stationed across Paris in specific.
Yet, clashes broke out in central Paris earlier on Saturday as protesters took to the streets for the fourth week to continue the wave of demonstrations that have gripped the country for three weeks now.
The protests that were initially called by the grassroots movement called ‘Yellow Vests’ (gilets jaunes) online, focussed on demonstrating against the fuel price hikes announced by Macron last month, as part of his campaign for cleaner cars and fuel.
However, thousands have participated in the protests over the last few weeks in various parts of the country, to protest not just the gas taxes, but also to express their anger over the high cost of living in the country and the President’s highly criticized policies implemented over the last 18 months.
By afternoon, authorities in Paris said that a total of 575 people had been searched and briefly arrested, while 361 people remained in custody.
The police said that they had found potential weapons such as hammers, baseball bats and metal petanque balls on these 361 people, placing them under arrest immediately.
By 2 pm local time in Paris, a Police spokeswoman who spoke to reporters said that about 1,500 protesters had gathered on the Champs Elysees boulevard.
