France re records another terrifying moment yesterday as over 130.000 protesters storms the streets of Paris with many wounded and properties lost

   France records another terrifying moment yesterday as over 130.000 protesters storms the streets of Paris with many wounded and properties lost.

  French police put on a massive show of force on Saturday to prevent another demonstration by the gilets jaunes from spiralling into violence, at the end of what could prove a defining week for Emmanuel Macron’s presidency.

More than 1,000 arrests were made across the country, with a large majority in Paris, during the fourth straight weekend of protests by the gilets jaunes, or yellow vests, a movement which began in response to fuel tax increases but has quickly swollen into a campaign against Mr Macron. The government said 125,000 people came out to block roads and towns throughout France, with 10,000 in Paris. On the first weekend of protest, more than 280,000 people had been on the streets. The government also said 118 protesters had been injured along with 17 members of the security forces. Some 89,000 police and gendarmes, equipped with water cannons and armoured vehicles, were deployed across the country to prevent a repeat of last weekend’s demonstrations, which erupted into the worst riot in the capital for 50 years, with 100 cars and several buildings burnt.


 The centre of Paris was placed in a virtual lockdown on Saturday, on what is normally one of the busiest shopping weekends before Christmas. Dozens of shops and attractions were closed, including the Louvre art gallery and the Eiffel Tower. As of Friday, the French retail federation said the cost of the protests to its members was €1bn.  The Arc de Triomphe was ringed by police after it was the scene of pitched battle the weekend before. Demonstrators converged on the heavily protected Champs Elysées in the centre of the capital, funnelled by police. Nearly 8,000 officers were deployed in Paris, backed up by 12 armoured vehicles — meaning the police were almost as numerous as the protesters themselves.

 A gendarme directs armoured vehicles on the streets of Paris. © AFP “There’s a profound democratic crisis in France and the president has too much power,” said Sophie Tissier, a protester from the Paris suburbs marching near Madeleine. “I condemn the violence but I understand it. Some of the young people from the banlieue (poorer suburbs) have no other way to show their anger.” “We are asking for more money, it’s that simple,” said Fabien Cosset, another protester who lives just south of the capital. “Macron is making everything we need more expensive . . . I won’t even be able to buy a Christmas present for my son.” Away from the largest concentrations of protesters and the most heavily protected areas, there were running battles through the wealthier streets of Paris between riot police and the gilets jaunes.  Tear gas was widespread, shops were looted and cars burnt. But, as of the late evening, the violence had not reached the levels of last weekend and tensions appeared to be easing.  Although there were still pockets of violent protesters facing off with police in Paris and in smaller cities such as Bordeaux as night fell, Christophe Castaner, interior minister said in an address that the “situation was under control.”  Edouard Philippe, the French prime minister, added that “as we speak, vigilance remains the order of the day. Casseurs [literally, those who break] are still at work.” Macron doesn’t understand us. Him and the people around him live in a different world The authorities had feared the campaigners, whose emblem is the high visibility safety vest, had been infiltrated by far-right and extreme left radical activists bent on violence.  Mr Castaner said on Friday that he expected radical elements to be present in Paris and that “the past three weeks have given birth to a monster that has escaped its creators”.

 Mr Macron, who has been mostly silent as the protests have escalated, will speak to the country early next week as he seeks to contain the biggest political crisis of his 18-month presidency.  The government tried to defuse the crisis by abandoning fuel tax increases planned for next year and looking for ways to raise purchasing power.  On Friday, Mr Philippe met gilets jaunes representatives as the government tries to find a leadership that it can deal with directly and on Saturday he said that “now is the time for discussion”. “We must now rebuild our national unity through dialogue, through work, by coming together,” he said on Saturday, while adding that Mr Macron would be proposing measures in order to achieve that goal.

 The concessions already made, including the first significant U-turn of Mr Macron’s presidency, were widely deemed too little too late. Those on the streets of Paris said repeatedly that Mr Macron would have to go even if they were unsure of what would happen next. Protestors overturn a car in Paris. © AFP “I travel four hours every day to get to and from work. I have to take the train. I cannot afford the petrol. The government hasn’t done enough for us,” said Sandrine Bouquet, a middle-aged secretary who works in central Paris, as 100 metres away tear gas was fired and windows smashed. Beside her, 69-year-old Sylvie Bergerac said: “Macron doesn’t understand us. Him and the people around him live in a different world.”