After the surge in fuel prices in France, the so-called Yellow Vests movement has held protests, calling firstly on the government to lower the prices, and then also on French President Emmanuel Macron to resign. On Wednesday, the French National Assembly approved a moratorium on the planned fuel price hike.

The French labour union Vigi has called on its members working in the national police and in the Ministry of the Interior to start an indefinite strike on Saturday, joining the Yellow Vests movement. The statement was placed on Vigi's Facebook page on Wednesday.

"The demands made by the Yellow Vests movement related to all of us. The time to organize legally and express solidarity with them for the benefit of all has come", Vigi's post reads.

"We are being perceived as mercenaries, given bonuses for overtime work, but they cannot compensate for the decisions made by the government", Vigi's statement reads.

The call is directed at "administrative, technical, scientific and state workers/cooks from the Ministry of the Interior", according to the statement.

READ MORE: French Extremists Destabilizing 'Yellow Vests' to Prolong Chaos – Activist

"Act IV" of the Yellow Vests' protests, which is to start on Saturday, will make the government take precautions, as during the previous "Act III", more than 260 people, including some 80 police, were injured. Earlier, French Interior Minister Christophe Castaner announced that he would reinforce security for next Saturday.

Michel Thooris, the head of the France Police labour union, said that the French government had failed to implement security measures in Paris, noting that "a majority of the French continue to back the movement". She also highlighted that using the armed forces against civilians would indicate that France is heading towards a civil war.

READ MORE: WATCH Policemen in France Take off Helmets in Solidarity With Fuel Protesters

The protests, which started as a movement against a hike in fuel prices, turned violent, leading to more than 600 people being injured and at least two deaths. The three-week demonstration forced the French government to drop the fuel tax rise from the 2019 budget.

"The government is ready for dialogue and is showing it because this tax increase has been dropped from the 2019 budget bill", Edouard Philippe, the French prime minister, said on December 5.

READ MORE: France Abandons Fuel Tax Increase After Weeks of Protest </s> Act IV (Act 4), the name given to the fourth weekend of protests in France, is just around the corner and the French government and police authorities are busy preparing in an attempt to keep the violence and destruction down to a minimum.

from an "extreme core of several thousand" coming to the French capital. The French presidency revealed on Wednesday that it fears there will be "major violence" The interior ministry has spoken of the likely presence of the "extreme-right who dream of a revolution and the extreme-left who advocate insurrection". And they are concerned their numbers will be boosted by youths from the poor Paris suburbs, some of whom took advantage of the mayhem to loot stores last weekend, according to police. And then there's the fringes of the yellow vest movement which appears to have become more radicalized in recent weeks. As a result the French PM said "exceptional means" will be devoted to keeping order across the country on Saturday.

A total of 89,000 police officers - up from the initial figure of 656,000 - and law enforcement staff will be deployed across France on Saturday, 8,000 of whom will be in the French capital.

The PM confirmed that 12 armored vehicles from the gendarmes military police will also be deployed to the capital, but the decision whether or not to send them onto the streets will be taken on the day.

"Given what has happened it is absolutely necessary to take all the possible measures to stop the rioters taking hold of this movement," said Jérôme Bonner, a police spokesperson.

In all, some 79 police units, including CRS riot police officers, are set to be mobilised in the capital on Saturday December 8th compared to the 50 who were on the streets last weekend.

And there is a new strategy -- this time police officers have been instructed not just to be mobile but also to directly engage with protesters, meaning that the situation could be even more violent than the riots seen last weekend.

"We are going to try to intervene as quickly as possible at the flash points to arrest the main thugs to try to suffocate the violence," said Denis Jacob from the police union Alternative Police.

The city's police chiefs have promised that officers from all units will be present, including the French Anti-Crime Squad known as the BAC, the territorial brigades and all Paris police station staff will be on duty on Saturday.

Even units not accustomed to carrying out everyday police work, such as the SDLII, which fights illegal immigration, will have 500 officers on the ground.

A crisis unit for police officers confronted with "particularly violent incidents" has been created, according to reports in the French press in order to offer officers legal assistance if necessary.

All emergency services will also be mobilized on Saturday.

Security will also be tight on the French capital's public transport network, with transport police officers stationed at railway stations and Metro stations.

Meanwhile, the capital's transport operator RATP is already planning to divert or suspend dozens of bus lines around the Champs-Élysées, as well as at Porte Maillot near Neuilly-sur-Seine in the western suburbs of the capital, Trocadéro, near Opera, Hotel de Ville and Gare du North and Gare de l'Est.

French President Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday urged politicians and union officials to launch a "call for calm", with French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe echoing that call in parliament and urged politicians to be responsible. "What is at stake is the safety of the French people and our institutions. I call here for responsibility," said Philippe. "All the actors in this public debate, politicians, union leaders, editorialists and citizens, will be accountable for their statements in the coming days," he added. In a move they hoped would help appease protesters the government announced it was completely scrapping the planned fuel tax hikes for 2019, yet it appears demonstrators are unsatisfied and are ready to push for more concessions that will help boost their spending power. The anxiety of the French authorities is evident in view of the prospect of another day of violence in the heart of the capital which is still under the shock of last weekend's riots. There have been dozens of calls to demonstrate in Paris on social media on Saturday, with many naming the Champs-Elysees -- the scene of riots on December 1st -- as the meeting point. For more information on what the protester's have in store for Paris this weekend CLICK HERE </s> France made the headlines yet again as a wave of an industrial strike was set to hit the European country from Thursday, March 22, onwards. The strikes called across sectors formed the part of the protest against President Emmanuel Macron's reform measures.

As many as seven trade unions appealed to workers in schools, hospitals, public service, air traffic control to carry out the strike while over 140 protests were planned across the country. The protest is expected to culminate at the Bastille monument in Paris where 25,000 demonstrators could gather to make their voices heard.

Besides, railway staff members would also join the Thursday demonstration before flagging off their strikes on two days out of every five between April 3 and June 28 till the time President Macron retreats with his reform plans. The railway strikes are expected to cause massive inconvenience to the commuters since a large number of trains would be cancelled.

Services in schools, hospitals and libraries would also be affected by the strikes while one-third of flights moving in and out of Paris's airports would remain cancelled because the air traffic controllers would remain off duty because of the strike.

A separate strike by the staff of Air France is also on the cards on Friday, March 23, seeking a six per cent salary rise. They have also planned another strike on March 30, AFP reported.

The strikers feel that the pay is not at par with the inflation while President Macron has been accused of ruining the public sector. The reforms would trigger the beginning of the end of the social model, they said.

Macron, who came to power last year with a decisive win over the right-wing Marine Le Pen, vowed to cut 1,20,000 public jobs by 2022 and his government's emphasis on pay on merit rather than experience was perceived by the unions as an attack on people's job security.

For breaking news & Instant updates throughout the day </s> Paris — Police scuffled with protesters in Paris and fired teargas and water cannon in the western city of Nantes as strikes broke out across France on Thursday in a challenge to President Emmanuel Macron’s economic reforms.

Train conductors, teachers and air traffic controllers walked out to join more than 150 mostly peaceful marches in cities and towns — the first time public sector workers have joined rail staff in protests since Macron came to office in May.

"It’s a real mess," said Didier Samba, who missed his morning commuter train to the suburbs and had more than an hour’s wait for the next at Paris’ Gare du Nord station.

Up to 60% of fast trains, 75% of inter-city trains and 30% of flights to and from Paris airports were cancelled because of the strike.

About 13% of teachers walked off the job, the education ministry said, closing many primary schools.

Electricity generation dropped by more than three gigawatts, the equivalent of three nuclear reactors, as those workers joined the strike, stoking government fears that the work stoppages could spread.

Public sector workers are angry with plans to cut the public sector headcount by 120,000 by 2022, including via voluntary redundancies, and about the introduction of merit-based pay.

Railway workers are worried by government plans to scrap job-for-life guarantees, automatic annual pay rises and generous early retirement. </s> • Road blocks are back in place in many French regions
• Interior Minister blasts the radicalisation of the movement
• Some 528 people have been injured since Saturday
• 92 police and gendarmes have been injured including 17 seriously

France's 'yellow vest' protests entered the fourth day on Tuesday with the government becoming increasingly concerned and frustrated that the movement has become radicalised.

After images were published online showing yellow vest wearing protesters burning a motorway toll at Virsac, the Interior Minister Christophe Castaner denounced a "total drift" of the movement suggesting that while it was mainly good natured on Saturday it has now become radicalised.

"We can see today that there has been a "total drift" (dérive totale") of a movement that was mainly held in good spirits on Saturday," he told France 2 radio.

"We can see there is a radicalisaton with incoherent demands that are all over the place," Castaner said.

The interior minister announced that 92 police and gendarmes had been injured.

Speaking on Monday evening Castaner appealed to protesters to end the road blocks.

"I make a solemn but firm appeal to protesters to carry on demonstrating if they wish but not to block or attack the people's freedom. The operations to clear the blockades will continue," he said.

Some 28,000 protesters took part in go-slow and road blocks on Monday but there has been no indication of how many people are expected to take part on Tuesday.

But a number of protesters were back building new barricades on Tuesday determined to keep up the pressure on President Emmanuel Macron, who they blame for a rise in the price of petrol and a loss of their spending power.

One person was accidentally killed and 528 people have been injured, 17 seriously, during the "Yellow Vest" protests. Protesters against police at Virsac on the A10 near Bordeaux. AFP) As the protests rumbled on, it emerged four men were taken into custody and charged as part of an anti-terrorist investigation in the southeastern city of Saint-Etienne on Saturday -- the first day of the blockades -- accused of planning to take advantage of the police mobilisation for the demonstrations to mount a terror attack, according to Le Parisien newspaper.

One of the suspects texted his fiancee saying, "It's going to bleed on November 17", the newspaper said. Officials were not immediately available to READ ALSO: 'Stay calm': Advice for drivers in France caught in the 'yellow vest' road blocks On Tuesday, in the town of Cournon-d'Auvergne, located in the outskirts of Clermont-Ferrand in central France in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region a fuel depot has been blocked since Monday evening by protesters, according to local reports. Meanwhile in the Yonne department in the northeastern Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region, the demonstrators set up on Tuesday morning on the roundabout of Rosa Park, south of the town of Sens after riot police were forced to unblock a site in the same area where 200 trucks were immobilized. In the Côtes-d'Armor, "yellow vests" are reportedly still present in the towns of Plaintel, Langueux, Loudéac, Dinan and Guingamp. However, dozens of "yellow vests" that were blocking the oil depot of Vern-sur-Seiche, south of Rennes, were removed by the riot police at around 6:45 am on Tuesday. In the Indre department, a filtered blockade is affecting traffic in the centre of the town of Saint-Maur, with traffic also being filtered in Argenton-sur-Creuse. In the town of Montierchaume, the roads are totally blocked between Châteauroux and Issoudun. And in Corsica, the "yellow vests" have lifted the blockade of the Marana oil depot, south of Bastia however they have warned that there may be further action. On Monday, security forces cleared protesters from several sites, including a suspension bridge leading to the southwestern city of Bordeaux that had been </s> The walk-outs and demonstrations are the latest test of strength for the 40-year-old centrist leader as he pushes ahead with a new phase of his agenda to overhaul the state railways and other public services.

France's once fearsome unions have regularly forced governments into policy U-turns in the past, but Macron and his ministers have vowed not to yield to the pressure despite the prospect of months of disruption.

"There will be a lot of people taking part," the leader of the hard-left CGT union, Philippe Martinez, promised on Wednesday. "If we do nothing, the government will not back down."

The March 22 date was chosen deliberately to echo the start of nationwide protests in 1968 that led to the country's biggest-ever strike and notorious street battles between police and students in Paris in May of that year.

Some commentators have reached into the past to draw parallels with more recent confrontations, particularly to 1995 when weeks of strikes paralysed the country and forced the government to abandon a pension reform.

For France's trade unions, it is a moment for them to show that they still wield power despite decades of declining membership numbers and new laws that have clipped their ability to shut down public services.

But the first round of their battle against Macron in September and October last year -- over changes to labour law -- ended in disappointment and saw the ex-investment banker prevail.

"We are going to continue reforming France in depth... with the certitude that our country needs this transformation to make up for the ground lost over previous decades," Macron told reporters during a trip to India last week.

Surveys show public opinion largely behind his bid to end some of the historic rights of railway workers, including pension benefits and guarantees of a job for life.

The state railway operator SNCF has warned that only 40 percent of high-speed TGV services will be running on Thursday, and just one in four regular trains across the country.

It is the first day of a three-month wave of strikes announced by unions that will see their members walk off the job for two out of every five days between April and June in a new and experimental form of protest.

The disruption is expected to cause a major headache for management even on non-strike days because trains and staff will not be where they are supposed to be.

France's civil aviation authority meanwhile said a third of flights into and out of the main Paris airports of Charles de Gaulle, Orly and Beauvais would be cancelled on Thursday because of industrial action by air traffic controllers.

An unknown number of schools are set to be affected, as are some hospitals, due to protests by teachers and health workers over planned changes to the education system and pay and conditions in medical facilities.

More than 140 protests have been planned across France in total, with the biggest of them set to take place at the Bastille monument in central Paris in the afternoon, where unions expect 25,000 demonstrators.

For Macron, France's youngest-ever president, the biggest risk appears to be different groups who are angry at his fast-paced and multi-fronted reform efforts coming together as a united force against him.

As well as public sector workers, he has angered retirees by raising taxes on their pensions and is forcing through an unpopular reduction in the speed limit on major roads.

His political opponents on the left, including the Socialist party which lost power last year and the hard-left France Unbowed party, have said they plan to take part.

Macron's approval rating is at 37 percent, according to a survey by the Ipsos polling group published on Wednesday, with 55 percent holding a negative view of his presidency, the highest level since the start of his term last year.

According to the investigative newspaper Le Canard Enchaine, Macron told advisors on Monday he was feeling "serene" and said the day of strikes was "not a cause for panic". </s> French police have clashed with striking prison guards at Europe’s largest jail on the fourth day of walkouts across the country over security concerns.

Officers fired teargas as scuffles broke out at the Fleury-Mérogis prison, south of Paris, where guards are protesting after a series of attacks on staff.

The French president, Emmanuel Macron, has promised to draw up a national prisons plan to address concerns by the end of February.



The attacks that sparked the guards’ protest have highlighted security problems and radicalisation inside often overcrowded French prisons. 



In the latest outbreak of violence, two guards were injured after an attack by prisoners at the Borgo jail in Corsica, the justice ministry said on Friday.

Outside the entrance to Fleury-Mérogis jail, which has more than 4,300 inmates, about 150 striking guards built a barricade of burning tyres and wooden pallets to prevent their colleagues from getting to work

A unit of CRS riot police broke through the picket line, firing teargas to disperse the demonstrators and allowing other staff to enter the prison while striking guards were held behind a barrier. 



“The CRS charged and fired teargas at us but we tried to resist,” a 28-year-old guard who gave his name as Sacha told AFP.



On Thursday, about 120 prisoners refused to return to their cells after their midday walk in the yard. They were brought back in with the help of specially trained intervention teams, France’s prison administration service said.



Six prisoners who are thought to have led the protest were sent to the punishment block, a prison officers’ union source said.

Despite talks to resolve the protests and pledges by Macron to outline plans for an overhaul of French prisons, the unions decided to continue the industrial action.

The strike began on 11 January after a German convict, a former top al-Qaida militant, attacked three guards with scissors and a razor blade at a high-security prison in northern France.



On Thursday, guards at more than 123 facilities were “mobilised”, the UFAP-UNSA and the CGT unions said.



Figures provided by the prisons’ administration said 87 of the country’s 188 detention facilities had been affected by the strike action.

In a statement this week, Force Ouvrière, one of the unions involved in the strike, said two-thirds of France’s prisons had been hit by industrial action. 



Prison staff were protesting against “the absence of consideration for personnel and an absence of equipment, notably security material in penitentiary establishments”.



Union officials have been holding talks with the justice ministry over longstanding complaints of low pay, insufficient staffing and overcrowding at prisons.



Guards warn that their safety is at risk after several attacks by prisoners linked to Islamic extremism or under surveillance because of the risk of radicalisation. </s> PARIS (Reuters) - Tens of thousands of nurses, teachers and other public sector workers joined forces to march against French President Emmanuel Macron’s reforms on Thursday, causing widespread travel disruption and bringing brief clashes with police in some cities.

While the vast majority of around 180 demonstrations nationwide were peaceful, scuffles erupted between police and hooded young protesters in Paris and the western city of Nantes, where security forces fired tear gas and water cannon.

It was the first time public sector workers, ranging from air-traffic controllers to civil servants, had joined with rail workers and pensioners to protest over the economic reforms Macron has sought to introduce since he took office last May.

“We’re here against the government, which is only helping the rich. What this government is doing is simply not OK,” said 65-year-old pensioner Françoise Rauch, a former rail worker who said she was also protesting against higher tax on pensions.

About 323,000 public sectors walked off the job, according to the interior ministry. Unions put the figure at 500,000.

In Paris, protesters denounced Macron’s proposals to trim some retirement benefits, overhaul unemployment insurance and shake up the highly indebted state-run rail company SNCF, with some chanting: “Together, let’s derail Macron!”

But only 13 percent of central government workers walked off the job, down marginally from an October strike, the government said, in a sign that unions may still be struggling to raise the street against the president.

Turnout was much stronger amid railway staff, who halted 60 percent of fast trains and 75 percent of inter-city services, while 30 percent of flights to and from Paris airports were cancelled.

French riot police use water cannons during clashes with masked protesters attending a demonstration during a national day of strike against reforms in Paris, France, March 22, 2018. REUTERS/Stephane Mahe

“It’s a real mess,” said Didier Samba, who missed his morning commuter train to the Paris suburbs and had more than an hour’s wait for the next.

Public sector workers are angry with plans to cut the public sector headcount by 120,000 by 2022, including via voluntary redundancies, and oppose the introduction of merit-based pay.

Railway workers are worried by government plans to scrap job-for-life guarantees and automatic annual pay rises.

While rail staff have planned a three-month rolling strike starting on April 3, public sector workers have no plans yet for further action, but they will meet next week to consider it.

About 13.5 percent of teachers walked off the job, the government said, closing many primary schools. Electricity generation dropped by more than three gigawatts, the equivalent of three nuclear reactors’ output, as power workers joined the strike in sympathy.

PARADOX

Opinion polls show a paradox: a majority of voters back the strike but an even bigger majority back the reforms, including cutting the number of public sector workers and introducing merit-based pay.

That has led the government, which overhauled labour laws last year and is crafting other reforms, to say it will stand by its plans while keeping a close eye on protests.

Slideshow (20 Images)

On Tuesday, following a retirees’ march, Prime Minister Edouard Philippe said the government would change tack for the poorest 100,000 out of 7 million pensioners concerned by the tax rise, in a sign that a government that prides itself on being firm on reforms can make exceptions.

“What we need to avoid is that all the grievances fuse together, as was the case in 1995,” a government official said, referring to France’s biggest strike in decades, which forced the government at the time to withdraw reforms. </s> Thousands of French civil servants, train drivers, air traffic controllers, and school and hospital staff have gone on strike on Thursday in a bid to protest against President Emmanuel Macron's reform drive. France's labor unions haven't once managed to force governments to adopt major policy shifts, and this time Macron has pledged to stand firm on his agenda.

About 150 protest marches are set to coincide. The nationwide general strike will hit the country's rail services, as about 60 percent of trains are set to be disrupted, as well as airports, with 30 percent of flights set to be cancelled in Paris. Many daycare centers, schools and hospitals are also likely to be affected since teachers and health workers are joining the protests.
The French police union Vigi calls on police officers to begin an indefinite strike on December 8 and join anti-government protesters, noting that "a majority of the French continue to back the movement".