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Police crack down on resurgent gilets jaunes protesters in Paris Police crack down on resurgent gilets jaunes protesters in Paris
(about 1 hour later)
French police fired teargas and made dozens of arrests on Saturday as they dispersed groups of gilets jaunes (yellow vest) protesters attempting to stage unauthorised rallies in central Paris. Demonstrators from the so-called Black Bloc anarchist group infiltrated a peaceful climate change march in Paris on Saturday, smashing shop and business windows and torching mopeds and dustbins en route.
The government deployed a massive police presence as it feared supporters would take advantage of authorised protests over climate change and pension reform to cause disruption in the French capital. Police made more than 120 arrests as the French capital saw a series of demonstrations.
Police had made 90 arrests in Paris by around midday local time (1000 GMT) and pushed back around one hundred protesters attempting to gather on the Champs-Élysées shopping avenue, the Paris police prefecture said. The gilets jaunes (yellow vest protesters) carried out their 45th Saturday of action in the city; there were also demonstrations against the government’s proposed pension reforms in other parts of the city, as well as a separate climate march.
About 7,500 police were mobilised, several districts including the Champs-Élysées were made out-of-bounds for protests, and more than 30 Métro stations closed. During the afternoon, urban guerrillas from Black Bloc joined the climate march as it headed to the Jardins de Luxembourg and threw missiles at police, who sought to separate the climate demonstrators from those intent on vandalism and violence.
Climate activists on trial in Paris for stealing Macron portraitsClimate activists on trial in Paris for stealing Macron portraits
The yellow vest protesters, named after motorists’ high-visibility jackets, were holding a 45th consecutive Saturday of action and seeking to revive participation in demonstrations that have sometimes turned violent. The movement emerged late last year, triggered by fuel tax rises and swelled into a revolt against President Emmanuel Macron’s style of government. The police prefecture claimed about 1,000 members of Black Bloc in masks and hoods had gathered at the head of the climate cortège and it had been forced to intervene using tear gas.
The government’s planned overhaul of France’s retirement system prompted a massive strike by Métro workers on 13 September, shutting most of the underground transport network. One group of gilets jaunes gathered on the Champs Élysées, officially out of bounds to demonstrations since protesters torched newspaper kiosks there in March. Around 7,500 police and gendarmes were deployed to quash any violence, using teargas to disperse crowds.
The authorities have also been taking precautions so protesters do not disrupt an annual heritage event this weekend that gives the public special access to many historic sites. The yellow vests have protested across France since November 2018. The movement was sparked by government plans to increase fuel taxes, but quickly widened to encompass more general dissatisfaction with Emmanuel Macron’s centrist administration.
Some sites such as the Arc de Triomphe monument have been closed while others such as the Élysée presidential palace have required visitors to register in advance. Yellow vest demonstrations, which drew more than 280,000 nationwide at their height, appeared to be losing momentum over the summer, but organisers had called for supporters to turn out for a show of strength this weekend to revive the movement.
French police were heavily criticised for the use of rubber bullets and “sting-ball” grenades containing rubber fragments to push back and disperse the demonstrators at past protests.
Saturday was a national heritage day in France, when public buildings and monuments are traditionally open to the public.
The Elysée said President Emmanuel Macron was not in Paris but was “following the situation attentively”.
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