Protesters block the Place de la Bastille to protest fuel taxes in Paris, France yesterday. Photo / AP
Protesters block the Place de la Bastille to protest fuel taxes in Paris, France yesterday. Photo / AP
One protester was killed and 106 others have been injured at roadblocks set up around France on Saturday as citizens angry at rising fuel taxes rose up in a grassroots movement and posed a new challenge to President Emmanuel Macron.
Police officers lobbed tear gas canisters at demonstrators on the famed Champs-Elysees Avenue in Paris as groups tried to make their way to the presidential Elysee Palace. Later, hundreds of protesters entered the bottom of the street dotted with luxury shops where the palace is located — and where Macron lives.
Demonstrators, wearing yellow jackets, block a roundabout in Molsheim, eastern France in protest of fuel tax increases. Photo / AP
They were seen on BFMTV talking with riot police when the officers suddenly raised their shields and pushed the group back.
French Interior Ministry officials estimated that about 244,000 protesters were involved in several thousand protests around the country, many of them spontaneous.
The protester who died, a 63-year-old woman, was killed when a driver caught in the blockade accelerated in a panic at Pont-de-Beauvoisin, near Chambery, according to Louis Laugier, the top state official, in the eastern Savoie region. According to various French media reports, protesters reportedly knocked on her car as she tried to take her daughter to a hospital. An investigation was opened.
Demonstrators block the entrance to the motorway in Bayonne, southwestern France. French interior ministry officials say that one protester has been killed. Photo / AP
Five people were seriously injured, while the others had more minor injuries, the Interior Ministry said in an early evening statement, raising an earlier count. It said 52 people were detained and 38 held for questioning.
Protesters, wearing yellow safety vests and dubbing themselves the "yellow jackets," pledged to target tollbooths, roundabouts and the bypass that ring Paris. The fluorescent yellow vests donned by the protesters must be kept in the vehicles of all French drivers in case of car troubles.
The ministry said security forces used tear gas in several places besides the Champs-Elysees to unblock major routes, including firing about 30 canisters at the entrance to the Mont Blanc tunnel.
The nationwide protest was unusual due to its grassroots origins. It arose from within the citizenry, backed neither by unions nor politicians, although some took part in a clear bid for supporters.
The amateur nature of the protests, often spontaneous and therefore illegal, made it tricky for police, who had orders to use dialogue over force but to stop protesters from completely blocking major routes or endangering lives or property.
Trucks are blocked on the motorway at the border between France and Spain in Biriatou, southwestern France. Demonstrators are blocking roads in France in protest of fuel taxes. Photo / AP
The situation on the Champs-Elysees, for instance, was confusing, with the protest producing a party atmosphere at some points and angry confrontations at others.
Police fired tear gas when a group moved into a street near the presidential palace. Hundreds of protesters took over the Place de la Concorde at the bottom of the avenue, shouting "Macron resign" as police looked on. By evening, 1200 protesters remained in the Place "protected by police," the Interior Ministry said.
The rise in fuel taxes, notably for diesel fuel, spoke to those French who feel the president has asked ordinary citizens to make the largest efforts in his bid to transform France.
In January the price of diesel is set to go up by seven cents a litre, and petrol by three cents. Diesel vehicle owners, still a majority in France, feel betrayed after decades of the state encouraging diesel engines.
Currently in France petrol costs €1.54 ($2.56) a litre and diesel €1.51 ($2.51) a litre.
The taxes are part of Macron's strategy to wean France off fossil fuels. Many drivers see them as emblematic of a presidency they view as disconnected from day-to-day economic difficulties and serving the rich.
Protesters shout anti-government slogans on the Place de la Concorde in Paris to protest fuel taxes in France. Photo / AP
With almost 80 per cent of the public backing the "yellow vest" protests, the president held a crisis meeting to find ways of softening the impact on the poor and came up with a raft of sweeteners worth around €500 million.
These include more financial incentives to exchange old cars for cleaner ones as well as the number of French entitled to "energy cheques".
"I happily voted for Macron in 2017, but he's really making fun of us," Dominique Jouvert, 63, a retired civil servant demonstrating in Lyon's city centre, told AP.
"There's no discussion to be had with him, no dialogue, he's arrogant. "What's certain is that I won't vote for him again," he said.
Macron's popularity has plunged, hovering around 30 per cent.
Robert Tichit, 67, a retiree, referred to the president as "King Macron."
"We've had enough of it. There are too many taxes in this country," he said.
