The grass roots movement began as resistance against a rise in taxes for diesel and petrol, but quickly expanded to encompass other grievances
Blue armoured vehicles beneath the Arc de Triomphe and rows of helmeted, thickly protected riot police blocked the demonstrators’ passage down the Champs-Elysees avenue toward the heart of presidential power. A ring of steel surrounded the Elysee Palace itself as police stationed trucks and reinforced steel barriers in streets throughout the entire neighbourhood.
Prized Paris monuments and normally bustling shopping meccas were locked down at the height of the holiday shopping season. The Eiffel Tower and Louvre Museum were among tourist attractions that remained closed, fearing damage after rioting and looting last Saturday that saw 130 people injured.
The grass roots “yellow vest” protest movement began as resistance against a rise in taxes for diesel and petrol, but quickly expanded to encompass frustration at stagnant incomes, the growing cost of living and other grievances. Macron agreed to abandon the fuel tax increase, but that has not defused the anger, embodied by the fluorescent safety vests that French motorists are required to keep in their cars.
While scattered scuffles broke out on Saturday around central Paris, the action seemed less violent overall at midday than at the same time a week ago, when crowds defaced the Arc de Triomphe, one of the city’s most revered monuments, and rampaged in the surrounding high-end neighbourhood.
After two weekends of violence in Paris that made the authorities look powerless to secure their capital, police went into overdrive on Saturday to keep a lid on unrest.
Police frisked people or searched bags every hundred metres or so throughout central Paris, and confiscated gas masks and protective goggles from journalists.
Protesters who came to Paris from Normandy described seeing officers block passengers wearing yellow vests from boarding at stops along their route. The national gendarme service posted a video on Twitter of police tackling a protester and confiscating his dangerous material, which appeared to be primarily a tennis racket.
