You turn to us for voices you won't hear anywhere else.

Sign up for Democracy Now!'s Daily Digest to get our latest headlines and stories delivered to your inbox every day.

France: Fourth Week of Mass Protests as Movement Spills over Border

HeadlineDec 10, 2018

In France, the “yellow vest” protests continued for a fourth consecutive week. An estimated 130,000 people took to the streets across the country over the weekend, resulting in over 1,700 arrests. In Paris, major attractions, including the Louvre and the Eiffel Tower, were closed in anticipation of the demonstrations. Protesters and police clashed again in the capital and other cities with police firing rubber bullets, water cannons and tear gas at crowds, and some protesters smashing windows and setting vehicles on fire. The French government halted plans for the fuel tax hike at the center of the protest, but demonstrators are calling for additional economic reforms, and many for the resignation of President Emmanuel Macron. Macron is set to address the nation later today.

Meanwhile, a video has gone viral showing French high school students lined up on their knees with their hands behind their heads or their backs as police officers watch over them. Students have been protesting plans to reform the exam system. Some yellow vest protesters kneeled before police in Paris Saturday in a gesture of solidarity with the students.

Yellow vest protests have started in other countries, including Belgium, where around 400 people were reportedly arrested over the weekend as protesters clashed with riot squads in the capital Brussels.

The original content of this program is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License. Please attribute legal copies of this work to democracynow.org. Some of the work(s) that this program incorporates, however, may be separately licensed. For further information or additional permissions, contact us.

Non-commercial news needs your support

We rely on contributions from our viewers and listeners to do our work.
Please do your part today.
Make a donation
Top