'Yellow vests' call for another Saturday protest in Paris
Spokespeople for the 'gilet jaunes' movement say they will march on the Champs-Elysées this coming Saturday and every following one until their fuel tax demands are properly heard by Macron.
Following their first meeting with a French minister, official 'yellow vest' spokespeople Eric Drouet and Priscillia Ludosky confirmed on Tuesday that another protest at Paris’s Champs-Elysées is being organized for this coming Saturday, December 1st.
"The wish of all gilets jaunes is to continue like this every Saturday, marching on the Champs-Elysees," Drouet, a truck driver, told journalists after his meeting with French Environment Minister François de Rugy.
“There is still no real desire to improve people’s lives,” Drouet said after the talks which followed a speech by French President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday in which the president attempted to appease the protest group.
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French Minister for the Ecological and Inclusive Transition Francois de Rugy sat next to Yellow Vest spokesperople Eric Drouet Priscilla Ludosky.
Macron, who likened the protests in Paris last Saturday to “scenes of war”, added more fuel to the fire on Tuesday by addressing the yellow vest movement’s demands for the first time.
While he offered minor concessions, the president refused to capitulate entirely, making it clear that the hike in fuel taxes on diesel and petrol that will come into force in January, will not be scrapped.
The group’s call for another demo comes just days after a week of protests culminated in violence between anti-government demonstrators and riot police at the Champs-Elysées last Saturday
.According to Drouet, it is the French government's stubborn attitude which is responsible for last Saturday’s violence.
“It’s the firmness of the Interior Ministry that created all the excesses we saw on Saturday that’s to blame.
“Being attacked with batons and tear gas by riot police from 8 am till noon created tensions among the 'yellow vests'. There would have been less violence the entire day if police had acted more calmly.”
Violent behaviour among the 'yellow vests' has also been attributed to extremists both on the left and the right who infiltrated the ranks of the movement.
But despite the fact that a poll last week showed around 70 percent of French people found the protests to be justified, calls for another demo on Saturday have been met by fear and complaints online that there will be further violence.
In his hour-long speech on Tuesday, Macron repeated several times that he had understood the anger expressed by hundreds of thousands of people who have taken to the streets in high-visibility yellow jackets.
He conceded that many French people felt that taxes were "imposed from above" and promised to accelerate the work of the government to lighten the load for working families and cut public spending.
"We need to change working methods," he said.
Macron did offer a concession, saying he would propose a mechanism to adjust tax hikes when they occurred at the same time as an increase in oil prices internationally -- as they have this year.
And he called for a three-month national consultation to draw up a roadmap for accelerating the country's transition away from fossil fuels -- which he insisted remained his overall objective.
Prime Minister Edouard Philippe said on Wednesday that he was "ready to receive" a delegation from the 'yellow vests'.
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Following their first meeting with a French minister, official 'yellow vest' spokespeople Eric Drouet and Priscillia Ludosky confirmed on Tuesday that another protest at Paris’s Champs-Elysées is being organized for this coming Saturday, December 1st.
"The wish of all gilets jaunes is to continue like this every Saturday, marching on the Champs-Elysees," Drouet, a truck driver, told journalists after his meeting with French Environment Minister François de Rugy.
“There is still no real desire to improve people’s lives,” Drouet said after the talks which followed a speech by French President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday in which the president attempted to appease the protest group.
READ ALSO:
French Minister for the Ecological and Inclusive Transition Francois de Rugy sat next to Yellow Vest spokesperople Eric Drouet Priscilla Ludosky.
Macron, who likened the protests in Paris last Saturday to “scenes of war”, added more fuel to the fire on Tuesday by addressing the yellow vest movement’s demands for the first time.
“It’s the firmness of the Interior Ministry that created all the excesses we saw on Saturday that’s to blame.
“Being attacked with batons and tear gas by riot police from 8 am till noon created tensions among the 'yellow vests'. There would have been less violence the entire day if police had acted more calmly.”
Violent behaviour among the 'yellow vests' has also been attributed to extremists both on the left and the right who infiltrated the ranks of the movement.
But despite the fact that a poll last week showed around 70 percent of French people found the protests to be justified, calls for another demo on Saturday have been met by fear and complaints online that there will be further violence.
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