Hundreds of ‘yellow vest’ protesters are detained in Paris as France braces for fresh anti-Macron riots by deploying 90,000 police officers and closing shops, restaurants and tourists sites including Eiffel Tower
- Paris is on lock-down as armed police braced for another confrontation with ‘yellow vest’ protesters
- 8,000 police were deployed in Paris to avoid a repeat of last Saturday’s mayhem when rioters wreaked havoc
- Shops were boarded up to avoid looting and street furniture and construction site materials were removed
Paris is on lock-down as armed police brace for another confrontation with ‘yellow vest’ protesters in a fourth weekend of demonstrations over living costs.
Dozens of streets in central Paris were closed to traffic, while the Eiffel Tower and world-famous museums such as the Musee d’Orsay, the Centre Pompidou and the Louvre were closed.
Dramatic photographs offer a snapshot into the volatile atmosphere surrounding the streets of France at present, as ‘yellow vests’ continue to demand more concessions from the government following Macron’s U-turn on the fuel tax.
Many shops were boarded up to avoid looting and street furniture and construction site materials have been removed to prevent them from being used as projectiles.
About 89,000 police were deployed across the country.
Of these, about 8,000 were deployed in Paris to avoid a repeat of last Saturday’s mayhem when rioters torched cars and looted shops off the famed Champs Elysees boulevard, and defaced the Arc de Triomphe monument with graffiti directed at President Emmanuel Macron.
Paris is on lockdown as armed police braced for another confrontation with ‘yellow vest’ protestors in a fourth weekend of demonstrations over living costs. Dozens of streets in central Paris were closed to traffic, while the Eiffel Tower and world-famous museums such as the Musee d’Orsay, the Centre Pompidou and the Louvre were closed
About 89,000 police were deployed across the country. Of these, about 8,000 were deployed in Paris to avoid a repeat of last Saturday’s mayhem when rioters torched cars and looted shops off the famed Champs Elysees boulevard, and defaced the Arc de Triomphe monument with graffiti directed at President Emmanuel Macron
French gendarmerie keep watch during the demonstration of the yellow vests on the Champs-Elysees avenue
French CRS riot police vehicles stand in place along the Printemps Department store during a national day of protest by the ‘yellow vests’ movement in Paris
The protests, named after the high-visibility safety jackets French motorists have to keep in their cars, erupted in November over the squeeze on household budgets caused by fuel taxes. Demonstrations have since swelled into a broad, sometimes violent rebellion against Macron, a challenge made more difficult to handle since the movement has no formal leader
Authorities say the protests have been hijacked by far-right and anarchist elements bent on violence and stirring up social unrest in a direct affront to Macron and the security forces. ‘We have prepared a robust response,’ Interior Minister Christophe Castaner said on Saturday. He called on peaceful protesters not to get mixed up with ‘hooligans’
French police arrest a man during a Yellow Vests demonstration. Macron, whose popularity is at a low ebb according to polls, has been forced into making the first major U-turn of his presidency by abandoning a fuel tax. Despite the climbdown, the ‘yellow vests’ continue to demand more concessions from the government, including lower taxes