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France: Weekly Yellow Vest Protests Channel Anger over Notre-Dame Donations

HeadlineApr 22, 2019

In France, riot police fired tear gas and water cannons Saturday to disperse thousands of yellow vest protesters, who took to the streets of Paris and other cities for the 23rd straight weekend. The weekly protests began last year to call out President Macron’s pro-business economic policies, with demands for fair wages and higher taxes on the wealthy. Many of the protesters are resentful that wealthy donors funding the reconstruction of Paris’s Notre-Dame cathedral will get huge tax breaks. This is a 62-year-old retiree who joined Saturday’s protests.

Odette: “The moment I saw the Notre-Dame burning, I was overcome with emotion. But when I saw such large donations of money to save Notre-Dame, my long-held thoughts were proven absolutely true, that these billionaires donating this money will get tax breaks as large as if they had donated nothing. Well, this put more pressure on me to be here today and to continue defending the little people, of whom I am part.”

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