France fuel protests: Tear gas fired in clashes in Paris
Source: BBC
Police fired tear gas, stun grenades and a water cannon on the Champs-Elysées, while masked protesters hurled projectiles and set buildings on fire.
What began as protests over President Macron's fuel tax has transformed into general anger at high living costs.
Mr Macron says his fuel policies are needed to combat global warming.
At least 80 people have been injured, including 14 members of the security forces. French broadcaster BFMTV reports that one of the injured is in a critical condition.
Read more: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-46411699
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MiniMe
(21,717 posts)
oberliner
(58,724 posts)And quite quickly.
christx30
(6,241 posts)complain about taxes? Just shut up, pay them, and be grateful for civilization.
woundedkarma
(498 posts)Suck it up. Pay the taxes... why the heck are you starting a war over some money? How many people died in the revolution over some taxes? man what a bunch of morons.
Someone pass me the sarcasm shaker please.
MichMan
(11,938 posts)…..that people wouldn't be taking to the streets?
christx30
(6,241 posts)But any time I complain about taxes, that’s pretty much what I’m told. “It’s the price of civilization”. It seems pretty condescending. Oh well. I guess if it’s for the climate, nothing is too extreme. Walk more, I guess? Use the bus more? Vote Macron out next election and hope it’s not Le Pen running on a “slash taxes” platform, because she’s the French Trump.
Baclava
(12,047 posts)GUÉRET, France — At the bare bottom of Florian Dou’s shopping cart at the discount supermarket, there was a packet of $6 sausages and not much else. It was the end of last week, and the end of last month. At that point, “my salary and my wife’s have been gone for 10 days,” he lamented.
How to survive those days between when the money runs out and when his paycheck arrives for his work as a warehouse handler has become a monthly challenge. The same is true for so many others in Guéret, a grim provincial town in south-central France. And it has made Mr. Dou angry.
So he used what money he had left and drove 250 miles to join the fiery protests on Saturday in Paris, where the police moved in with tear gas, water cannon and rubber bullets.
“We knew they were sent in to get rid of us,” he said the day after, “and believe me, they were not into Mr. Nice Guy.” But he vows the protesters are not going anywhere.
The Yellow Vest protesters can now be found waiting at the road blocks as you come into town — truck and school-bus drivers, nurses, out-of-work electricians, housewives, warehouse handlers, part-time civil servants and construction workers on disability aid.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/02/w...-protests.html
deurbano
(2,895 posts)Their university term in England just ended. They will be staying in the Latin Quarter, while the protests seem to be on the Right Bank, but I'm sure they weren't planning to just stay on the Left Bank. Parental worrying never ends... Best wishes for my second favorite city.
jberryhill
(62,444 posts)Riots don't go 24/7, occupy an entire city and last for days. They are localized brief events, and easy to avoid. In order to catch one, you have to be right there, right then. Millions of people in Paris had an ordinary weekend and will have an ordinary week.
I would imagine that any European parent would be concerned if their kids were traveling to the US and getting caught up in a mass shooting, since that's what they hear happens here with regularity.
deurbano
(2,895 posts)the week, but they would definitely have been affected this weekend... even if not in terms of their safety. We have a friend who just arrived in Paris to find the shops near the Arc de Triumph are being emptied of merchandise and boarded up in anticipation of protests on Saturday. Many metro stations, restaurants and shops will be closed and (seemingly) most major tourist attractions (Notre Dame, the Louvre, the Orsay, the Eiffel Tower, etc.), including some on the Left Bank. Maybe they have received threats or something, since i don't think any protests have occurred there yet...and even the more remote Versailles is included. I hope this is just based on an abundance of caution. There have been warnings about Sunday, too, but I don't know if the closures will continue.
If I were a European parent I would definitely be worried if my kids were traveling in the US. I'm worried when my American son is roaming our own American city after hours. (Then again, I'm a worrier!)
https://en.parisinfo.com/practical-paris/info/guides/info-disruption-paris
PLACES CLOSED ON 8 DECEMBER 2018 (NON-EXHAUSTIVE LIST)
Main information point of the Paris Convention and Visitors Bureau - City Hall
Museums, monuments and gardens
Tropical Aquarium of the Golden Gate
Triumphal arch
Cathedral Basilica of Saint Denis
Notre-Dame de Paris cathedral
Cathedral Saint-Louis des Invalides
Centre Pompidou
Expiatory Chapel
Castle of Versailles
Vincennes castle
City of Architecture and Heritage
Science and Industry museum
Conciergerie
Archaeological Crypt of the Ile de la Cité
National Domain of the Palais-Royal
Louis Vuitton Foundation
Cartier Bresson Foundation
Cartier Foundation for Contemporary Art
National Hotel of Invalides
Hotel de Sully
Institute of the Arab World
Tuileries garden
National Galleries of the Grand Palais
The catacombs
House of Radio
Victor Hugo's house
Cernuschi Museum
Cognacq-Jay Museum
Museum of Modern Art of the City of Paris
Museum of Art and History of Judaism
Museum of Arts and Crafts
Orsay Museum
Museum of Freemasonry
Museum of Music
Army museum
Museum of Man
Orangerie Museum
Museum of the Order of Liberation
Jeu de Paume Museum
Quai Branly Museum - Jacques Chirac
Eugène Delacroix Museum
Jacquemart-André Museum
Louvre Museum
Luxembourg Museum
Fragonard Perfume Museum
Museum of Relief Plans
Marmottan Monet Museum
Guimet National Museum of Asian Arts
National Museum of the History of Immigration
Nissim Museum of Camondo
Picasso Museum Paris
Rodin Museum
Opera Bastille
Palace of discovery
Palace garnish
Palace of Tokyo
Pantheon
Pavilion of Arsenal
Petit Palais - Museum of Fine Arts of the City of Paris
Holy Chapel
Sèvres-City of Ceramics
Tomb of Napoleon and Church of the Dome
Eiffel Tower
Montparnasse Tower
Tours of Notre-Dame de Paris
Restaurants
58 Eiffel Tower
Restaurants on the Avenue des Champs-Elysees and in the surroundings
Restaurants on the rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré
Shopping
BHV MARAIS
Boutiques of the Avenue des Champs-Elysées
Shops in the rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré
The Bon Marché
Galeries Lafayette (Haussmann and Montparnasse)
Lafayette Gourmet House
Spring
Eugene
(61,900 posts)Source: The Guardian
Shops and cars set alight after peaceful gilets jaunes protest turns violent in centre of the French capital
Angelique Chrisafis in Paris
Sun 2 Dec 2018 11.55 GMT
The French president, Emmanuel Macron, will hold an emergency meeting of senior ministers on Sunday after central Paris saw its worst unrest in a decade on Saturday. Thousands of masked protesters fought running battles with police, set fire to cars, banks and houses and burned makeshift barricades on the edges of demonstrations against fuel tax rises.
On Sunday morning, Paris authorities hired extra trucks to begin removing the carcasses of burnt cars on from the scorched pavements of some of Paris’s most expensive streets, amid graffiti calling for Macron to resign.
Piles of teargas canisters littered broken pavements in front of rows of shattered shopfronts and smashed windows, as TV channels showed non-stop footage of central Paris in flames during Saturday’s events..
The government spokesman Benjamin Griveaux did not rule out imposing a state of emergency – which two police unions have called for. The president, prime minister and interior minister said they would discuss all available options.
-snip-
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/dec/02/paris-riots-worst-unrest-decade-with-shops-and-cars-set-alight-gilets-jaunes
NickB79
(19,253 posts)You won't push people to drive less or purchase EV's unless you make it economically unfeasible to keep burning gasoline. That means both tax rebates at purchase for efficient vehicles, AND tax increases at the pump.
Either deal with it, or admit we really don't have a chance to prevent catastrophic climate change. You can't save the planet and enjoy cheap gas at the same time.
christx30
(6,241 posts)Not everyone can afford those type of fuel efficient vehicles. Hell, if I could, I’d love to buy a late model Honda. I’m tired of spending 3 hours on the bus 5 days a week to get to my job.
Also, people get tired of being told they must pay more and more taxes. It’s just endless. Taxes and fees, taxes and fees. We’re all just people trying to do the best we can to take care of our families. Your attitude is why people like trump are getting so popular. “You need to pay more in taxes because of reasons.” Or maybe, I’ll vote for someone else and remove you types from power.”
Maybe have compassion for working types that are just trying to keep a roof over our heads and food on our tables.
NickB79
(19,253 posts)We've painted ourselves into a corner in our quest for ever-growing economies, and we're either unwilling or incapable of making painful decisions now for the long-term survival of our society.
It's been fun.
NutmegYankee
(16,199 posts)christx30
(6,241 posts)
Calista241
(5,586 posts)MichMan
(11,938 posts)We need politicians that will advocate this position for the good of the planet. Higher taxes of $3 per gallon would do it I believe.
Good luck finding one that will campaign on that however. Most politicians love low gas prices, but somehow expect that people won't use much. That will not work.
EllieBC
(3,016 posts)Many of whom drive older cars and have to travel to work? They can just die off for the good of the planet? Yeah that's why no politician will campaign for that.
MichMan
(11,938 posts)Require the poor and working class to buy electric cars?
We can't expect gas prices to be $2 per gallon and be dismayed people are choosing to drive pickups and SUV can we?
NutmegYankee
(16,199 posts)Your plan (substantially higher gas tax) would ruin them - how do you plan to deal with that? Food would skyrocket, as would everything else. The poor can not afford new cars and mass transport isn’t an option in most of the USA. And people can’t just pick up and move - rural America stays in place because of family ties that ensure their survival.
I never hear real plans about them. Is it your intent that they starve and go away?
MichMan
(11,938 posts)Why do we expect people in the market to buy a new car to buy smaller electric and fuel efficient hybrid vehicles when gas prices are only $2.30 per gallon ?
People love cheap gas prices, but expect others to consume not very much.
What is your solution?
christx30
(6,241 posts)When the price of gas goes up, so does food, and pretty much everything else. Things my kids need. My paycheck doesn’t go up.
Snellius
(6,881 posts)The Revolution, 1830, 1848, the Commune of 1870. Was in some in 1968. And even coming from Berkeley at the time. Parisians were the real pros, armored, tactical, and knew just what to do with the fewest comrades. Except this one does not seem to be Parisian or fueled by a general strike or uprising and migrated from the provinces where there's no where like the only city that really counts. But that's been dismissed before and know from experience they have a dynamic of their own.
oberliner
(58,724 posts)
irisblue
(32,982 posts)I am not starting any conspiracy theories, it just seems like an excellent opportunity for an autocratic dictator, and the Russians have long histories of such.
oberliner
(58,724 posts)irisblue
(32,982 posts)Lots & LOTS of the current buzzword " globalists' ' 'liberals'.
Yeah I know 'twitter' can be a barking mess; that said the twitter feeds of the major credible media, esp the BBC. & Reuter people, for me, are interesting to read.
oberliner
(58,724 posts)It seems fairly organic to me - with the protests coming in response to rising prices and the like - but I admit that I have not studied the situation extremely closely.
irisblue
(32,982 posts)I don't have cable or s TV connection, I do get 90% of my
news in written form. I do listen to the BBC broadcasts, their coverage is markedly different from NPR.
The non American media gives IMO a much more nuanced, inclusive, and detailed view of world events.
American media is, like many Americans, is US centric and used to small bits of info, limited in scope.
moondust
(19,993 posts)For those resident in France, it was an annual tax on their total worldwide assets (property, savings and investments, jewellery, cars, etc) if the total value was over €1,300,000.
Now, from January 2018, the old wealth tax will be abolished and replaced by a new one, this time only on real estate.
~
https://www.completefrance.com/french-property/tax/explained-changes-to-french-wealth-tax-1-5342057
Seems neoliberal former investment banker Macron is helping the rich get richer and a lot of people, especially those who have to drive because they don't have easy access to public transportation, don't like it.
Baclava
(12,047 posts)The French government is to suspend a controversial rise in fuel tax
The planned fuel tax increase has caused widespread protests throughout the country and dramatic scenes of violence and civil unrest.
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/12/04/france-fuel-protests-government-to-suspend-fuel-tax-reports-say.html
oberliner
(58,724 posts)Baclava
(12,047 posts)Mr. Macron ordered Prime Minister Édouard Philippe to meet with representatives of the “Yellow Vests” protest movement and with the leaders of the opposition political parties. The movement is named for the high-visibility safety vests that motorists are supposed to wear when they have roadside breakdowns.
A third weekend of nationwide protests by the movement, largely made up of working-class people angry about a planned increase in fuel taxes and their dwindling purchasing power, left burned cars and smashed store windows in several of the wealthiest neighborhoods of Paris.
More than 260 people were wounded nationwide, at least 133 of them in Paris, according to the prefecture of police. About 412 people were arrested nationwide. Firefighters extinguished nearly 250 blazes that destroyed 112 cars and burned other property, including several buildings.
Among those arrested were largely men in their 30s and 40s, some from the far right and some from the far left, but also “a number of protesters wearing yellow vests” who did not hesitate to join the fray, said Rémy Heitz, the Paris prosecutor.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/02/world/europe/france-macron-yellow-vest-protests.html
sl8
(13,789 posts)From https://www.bbc.com/news/world-46429930
3 December 2018
An 80-year-old woman has died after being hit by a tear gas canister at her window during Saturday's fuel protests in the French city of Marseille.
The woman, who lived in an apartment near to where the protests were taking place, was hit in the face while closing the shutters.
Protests over fuel tax have grown into general anger at higher living costs.
The woman was taken to hospital, but died during an operation after suffering shock, local media report.
Three other people have been killed in the protests since demonstrations started more than two weeks ago, police said on Sunday.
...
