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> A total of 118 people and 17 police officers were injured during Saturday’s Yellow Vest protests across France, the French Interior Minister said late Saturday.

Around 125,000 people participated in the nationwide protests, said Interior Minister Christophe Castaner in a press meeting.

Castaner said that 974 people were arrested during the protests.

Security measures were tight in France ahead of the demonstrations. Dozens of armored vehicles and 89,000 troops -- including 8,000 in Paris – were on duty.

On Saturday, protesters wearing bright yellow vests -- dubbed the Yellow Vests -- gathered along the famous Champs-Elysees in the capital Paris, where stores, restaurants, and banks were shut down due to violence.

French police used pepper spray against Yellow Vest protesters along the Champs-Elysees.

During Saturday's protests, the tension between demonstrators and the police flared up from time to time.

Thousands of yellow vest protesters have been gathering in major French cities including Paris since Nov. 17 to protest President Emmanuel Macron's controversial fuel tax hikes and the deteriorating economic situation.

The demonstrators, who generally live in rural areas due to high rents in the cities, have called on Macron to cut fuel taxes and ease their economic difficulties.

According to a recent survey, 84 percent of the French people -- mostly from the middle-income group -- support the protests.

Fuel prices in France have risen more than 20 percent this year.

This article has been adapted from its original source. </s> Police officers advance during a ‘Yellow vest’ protest against higher fuel prices, on the Champs-Elysees in Paris, France, on Saturday (Reuters photo)

PARIS — Police firing tear gas and water cannons clashed with protesters in Paris who are angry over rising fuel costs and President Emmanuel Macron's economic policies, the second weekend of "Yellow vest" protests across France.

A trailer was set on fire and exploded on the Champs-Élysées and a man who tried to attack fire fighters was overpowered by some of the demonstrators themselves. On the nearby Avenue de Friedland, police fired special rubber balls to control demonstrators.

Around 5,000 protesters had converged on the Champs-Élysées where police tried to prevent them from reaching the president's Elysée Palace nearby.

Protesters sang the national anthem and waved French flags while others carried signs with slogans saying "Macron, resignation" and "Macron, thief". Police detained 22 people in Paris and at protests in other parts of the country.

Protesters are opposed to taxes Macron introduced last year on diesel and petrol which are designed to encourage people to switch to cleaner forms of transport. Alongside the tax, the government has offered incentives to buy electric vehicles.

For more than a week, protesters clad in the fluorescent yellow jackets that all motorists in France must have in their cars have blocked highways across the country with burning barricades and convoys of slow-moving trucks, obstructing access to fuel depots, shopping centres and some factories.

Interior Minister Christophe Castaner accused far-right leader Marine Le Pen of fanning the protests in the capital.

"The ultra-right is mobilised and is building barricades on the Champs-Élysées. They are progressively being neutralised and pushed back by police," he said.

In a message on Twitter, Le Pen said she had questioned why no protests were being allowed in the area.

"Today Mr Castaner is using this to target me. This is low and dishonest," she said.

Last Saturday, when nearly 300,000 people took part in the first yellow vest demonstrations countrywide, retailers' daily revenue fell 35 per cent, according to consumer groups.

By 2PM, more than 80,000 demonstrators were protesting across France, including 8,000 in Paris alone, according to figures from the interior ministry

Demonstrators were blocking access to shopping malls in Bollene and Carpentras in southern France while in Dole, in eastern France, a man carrying a weapon was overpowered on a roundabout occupied by demonstrators.

The unrest is a dilemma for Macron who casts himself as a champion against climate change but has been derided as out of touch with common folk and is fighting a slump in popularity.

Despite calls for calm from the government, the yellow vest protests have spread to French territories abroad, including the Indian Ocean island of Reunion, where cars were set on fire.

While the movement, which has no leader, began as a backlash against higher fuel prices, it has tapped into broader frustration at the sense of a squeeze on household spending power under Macron's 18-month-old government.

Since coming to power, Macron has seen off trade union and street demonstrations against his changes to the labour rules, and overhauled the heavily indebted state rail operator. Foreign investors have largely cheered his pro-business administration.

But political foes have dismissed him as the "president of the rich" for ending a wealth tax, and voters appear to be growing restless, with the 40-year-old president's popularity slumped at barely 20 per cent. </s> PARIS (AP) — France's yellow vest protest movement joined ranks Tuesday with a major union, a first for both, in a day of nationwide protests over taxes and buying power that brought tens of thousands into the streets.

Brief scuffles marked the mostly calm Paris demonstration. Police fired several rounds of tear gas, clearing troublemakers from the Place de la Concorde, which borders the U.S. Embassy.

Tear gas was also used in Lille and elsewhere. However, tension was minimal compared with the weekly protests held since mid-November by the yellow vest movement to demand fiscal and social justice in a major challenge to President Emmanuel Macron.

As protesters marched, lawmakers in the National Assembly, the lower house of parliament, voted 387-92 to pass a bill aimed at preventing violence during protests, and helping authorities maintain order. The bill would, for instance, authorize regional prefects to prevent people seen as a serious threat to public order from protesting, or force protesters involved in violence to pay for damage.

The bill, which must go before the Senate, would also make it a crime for protesters to conceal their faces — a common occurrence during Saturday protests by the yellow vest movement, by both those trying to offset the effects of tear gas and by troublemakers concealing their identities.

Meanwhile, the Communist-backed CGT union marched from Paris City Hall to the Place de la Concorde side-by-side with protesters from the yellow vest movement, which takes its name from the safety vests they wear that are required in all cars.

Union chief Philippe Martinez cheered the hand-in-hand protests with the yellow vests, promising daily initiatives and "something big" each Tuesday. He noted overlapping demands between his union and yellow vest protesters.

"There's no reason why we shouldn't demonstrate next to each other or one behind another. What's important is that our first day together is a success, in the middle of the week," he said.

"I find business leaders have it easy and it's time we hold big company bosses in this country accountable," Martinez said.

The grassroots yellow vest movement has no anointed leader and an array of demands. However, increasing buying power and ending what they perceive as favoritism toward the powerful at the expense of the less fortunate are leading demands.

Alex Turnbull and Sylvie Corbet contributed to this report. </s> French riots over proposed fuel taxes and higher living costs have killed three people since the protests began more than two weeks ago, according to police.

Hundreds of thousands of people across France began protesting gas tax hikes and the increasing cost of living, largely because of French President Emmanuel Macron’s environmental agenda, around mid-November. Protesters, called “yellow vests” after the neon yellow traffic vests they wear, began blocking streets and highways across the country.

Thousands have traveled to Paris to rally in the nation’s capital city. The protesters have clashed with police dressed in riot gear and operating fire engines to spray back crowds of yellow vests. Police arrested hundreds of rioters.

At least 110 people were injured in protests Saturday, including 20 police officers. One person was killed during the riots over the weekend.

French Justice Minister Nicole Belloubet has promised to use the full force of the law against violent protesters and to discourage illegal actions, the BBC reports.

“It’s difficult to reach the end of the month. People work and pay a lot of taxes and we are fed up,” Rabah Mendez, a yellow vest in Paris from French suburbs, told The Associated Press.

The yellow vests are a mix of right and left-wing protesters. The vast majority are working class people fed up with high taxes and stagnant wages that are making each paycheck worth less. Many are running out of money with more than a week left to go until the next payday.

French President Emmanuel Macron returned to his country roiled by protests Sunday after a trip to Argentina. Prime Minister Edouard Philippe had planned to attend the United Nations’ climate summit in Poland this week, but canceled the trip to focus on the domestic unrest.

In the face of the protests, Macron has not backed off a proposal to raise gas taxes even higher to combat global warming. The government’s lack of action to answer the protesters demands has riled yellow vests even more.

“Their response has poisoned the situation even more,” a French protester told The New York Times.

“The citizens have asked for lower taxes, and they’re saying, ‘Ecology,’” the protester said, referencing a speech last week where Macron outlined plans to transition France from fossil fuel to renewable energy.

A version of this article appeared on The Daily Caller News Foundation website.

We are committed to truth and accuracy in all of our journalism. Read our editorial standards. </s> France's yellow vest protest movement joined ranks with a major union, a first for both, in a day of nationwide protests over taxes and buying power that brought tens of thousands into the streets. Brief scuffles marked the mostly calm Paris demonstration on February 5.

Police fired several rounds of tear gas, clearing troublemakers from the Place de la Concorde, which borders the US Embassy.

Tear gas was also used in Lille and elsewhere.

However, tension was minimal compared with the weekly protests held since mid-November by the yellow vest movement to demand fiscal and social justice in a major challenge to President Emmanuel Macron.

As protesters marched, lawmakers in the National Assembly, the lower house of parliament, voted 387-92 to pass a bill aimed at preventing violence during protests, and helping authorities maintain order.

The bill would, for instance, authorize regional prefects to prevent people seen as a serious threat to public order from protesting, or force protesters involved in violence to pay for damage.

The bill, which must go before the Senate, would also make it a crime for protesters to conceal their faces — a common occurrence during Saturday protests by the yellow vest movement, by both those trying to offset the effects of tear gas and by troublemakers concealing their identities.

Meanwhile, the Communist-backed CGT union marched from Paris City Hall to the Place de la Concorde side-by-side with protesters from the yellow vest movement, which takes its name from the safety vests they wear that are required in all cars.

Union chief Philippe Martinez cheered the hand-in-hand protests with the yellow vests, promising daily initiatives and "something big" each Tuesday.

He noted overlapping demands between his union and yellow vest protesters. "There's no reason why we shouldn't demonstrate next to each other or one behind another.

What's important is that our first day together is a success, in the middle of the week," he said.

"I find business leaders have it easy and it's time we hold big company bosses in this country accountable," Martinez said.

The grassroots yellow vest movement has no anointed leader and an array of demands.

However, increasing buying power and ending what they perceive as favoritism toward the powerful at the expense of the less fortunate are leading demands. </s> The scenes of violence were reminiscent of the worst "yellow vest" riots in Paris in December (AFP Photo/Zakaria ABDELKAFI)

Paris (AFP) - Demonstrators looted and torched shops and businesses on the famed Champs-Elysees avenue in Paris on Saturday, on the 18th straight weekend of "yellow vest" protests, characterised by an uptick in violence after weeks of dwindling turnout.

A Boss menswear store and the upscale Fouquet's restaurant -- a brasserie popular with politicians and film stars -- were among the premises to have their windows smashed by groups of hooded demonstrators in scenes reminiscent of the worst "yellow vest" riots in Paris in December.

The demonstrators also set fire to a Longchamp handbag store and to a bank situated on the ground floor of an apartment building, which was engulfed by flames.

]The fire service evacuated the residents, including a nine-month-old baby, and extinguished the blaze.

Saturday's turnout is a test for the "yellow vest" movement, which began in November over fuel tax hikes and quickly ballooned into a rebellion against President Emmanuel Macron's policies but has struggled lately to mobilise large numbers of protesters.

The police estimated the number of protesters in Paris at 10,000, out of around 14,000 nationwide -- a fraction of the 282,000 that took part in the inaugural demonstrations on November 17.

By the mid-afternoon 129 people had been arrested.

Eleven people, including two fire fighters, suffered minor injuries in the bank blaze, the fire service told AFP.

Interior Minister Christophe Castaner in a tweet accused the arsonists of being "neither demonstrators, nor trouble-makers" but "murderers".

The rally coincides with the end of the public debates called by Macron to try take the heat out of the protests and give voters a forum to propose policy changes.

Around half a million people turned out at townhall-style meetings held around the country over the past two months.

But many "yellow vests" dismissed the consultation exercise as a smoke-screen.

On Saturday, the police used tear gas, stun grenades and water cannon to repel protesters who gathered at the foot of the Arc de Triomphe war memorial, which was sacked by protesters on December 1 in scenes that drew international condemnation.

Several news stands also went up in smoke as groups of mostly black-clad demonstrators pelted the security forces with stones and erected barricades.

"There are a number of people who have come just to smash things," Castaner said, estimating that some 1,500 "ultra violent" activists had infiltrated the crowd.

"We have been too nice, that's why it's violent today. I'm not in favour (of violence) but we are ruled by corrupt people who dare to lecture us," Jean-Francois Bernard, a landscape gardener who was among the protesters, told AFP.

On social media, "yellow vest" leaders had hinted at the arrival of sympathisers from Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands and even Poland.

"Macron, we're coming to get you at home," some of the protesters chanted, referring to the presidential palace situated near the Champs-Elysees.

The president and his wife Brigitte were however last seen publicly at a ski resort in the southwestern Pyrenees mountains, where they arrived for a short break Thursday night on Macron's return from a trip to Africa.

On Saturday, protesters streamed into the capital by train and car for a rally they called an "ultimatum" to the young president.

Over 5,000 police were deployed, along with several armoured police vehicles.

Macron, who was caught off guard when grassroots protesters began occupying traffic roundabouts in November over fuel taxes, has loosened the state's purse strings to the tune of 10 billion euros ($11.2 billion) to try defuse the protests.

He then travelled the length and breadth of the country, engaging in marathon debates with local politicians and voters.

But the measures failed to quell the anger of the anti-capitalist demonstrators, who accuse the former investment banker of being elitist and favouring the rich.

Last month the leaderless movement, which spans the spectrum from the far left to right, was tainted by allegations of anti-Semitism.

French Jewish philosopher Alain Finkielkraut was jeered and called a "dirty Zionist" by a group of "yellow vests" after he crossed their path during a protest.

The protest was one of several in Paris on Saturday, where thousands of climate campaigners also held a demonstration to demand that the French government uphold its commitments on reducing emissions. </s> (THE CONVERSATION) Protesters wearing reflective safety vests have unsettled France for months, halting traffic, chanting slogans and at times clashing violently with police.

Promises by President Emmanuel Macron to raise worker pay and cut taxes have not quelled the French demonstrators’ anger, which was originally triggered in December by a proposed fuel tax hike. Nor has the cold of Paris in winter chilled their outrage.

Beyond voicing the economic concerns of the French working class, their demands now include everything from Macron’s ouster to the abolition of the French Senate.

This powerful movement appears to be spreading. Protesters in Iraq, Bulgaria, Israel, Taiwan, the United Kingdom and other countries have taken to the streets in reflective yellow vests, too.

Activists in these countries say that they sympathize with the French protesters and are inspired by their powerful grassroots movement.

But appearances can be deceiving. France’s signature yellow vests may have been adopted by protesters elsewhere – but that’s where the similarities stop.

Our academic research on protests indicates that France’s yellow vest demonstrations have probably not inspired the recent unrest abroad.

For one, many of the so-called yellow vests protests abroad are not actually new. Bulgaria’s gas protests began on Nov. 11, a week prior to the yellow vest protests in France. Activists only donned yellow vests in December, after French protesters shut down Paris with their marches.

In Iraq, protests against unemployment, corruption and poor public services date back many months. Iraqi protesters, too, began wearing yellow vests in December after the French protests became iconic.

The same is true of the yellow vest protests in Taiwan.

Furthermore, many of these yellow vest protests make demands that are very different from that of their French counterparts.

In the United Kingdom, everyone from pro-Brexit groups to anti-austerity organizations have sported yellow vests at their protests. So have far-right, anti-Muslim protesters in Germany.

What has spread beyond France aren’t its working-class protests, exactly, but the props of those marches: Those iconic traffic vests have become a symbol of discontent.

Their original meaning, however, has largely been lost. In France, all vehicles must carry yellow vests in case of traffic emergency. That’s why workers angry about fuel hikes decided to wear them to marches.

We found that it is exceedingly rare for protests in one country to actually trigger unrest in another country.

When we analyzed 282 pro-democracy protests in 87 countries between 1989 and 2011, we found that 236 protests occurred in isolation, with no unrest in contiguous countries in the following days, weeks or months. That means 84 percent of protests did not spread.

Protests – especially in the era of social media – might inspire activists in other countries. But they do not fundamentally change the domestic conditions that, history shows, generate protests: domestic discontent over economic problems, fraudulent elections, food prices or other triggers.

But the eruption of pro-democracy protests in one country does not make it more likely that pro-democracy protests will occur in a nearby country, according to our research. Between 1989 and 2011, just 24 of 282 protests in countries with contiguous neighbors saw similar demonstrations breaking out nearby within 45 days.

This conclusion remains even when we tested various scenarios, such as whether protests were more likely to spread they occur in large countries, or in militarily and economically powerful ones, or when countries were well connected to the internet. Nor were demonstrations more likely to spread if they were larger or more peaceful, or better able to wrestle concessions from the government.

We tested our models using other kinds of protests, too, including anti-government protests like the yellow vests. They just don’t spread, either.

Our findings contradict the common wisdom that protests are contagious.

This view is based primarily on four historical periods where numerous anti-regime protests occurred in short succession.

The Arab Spring is the most recent example. After an uprising in Tunisia in 2010, governments across the Middle East and North Africa soon saw mass protests. Several authoritarian leaders were ousted.

Similar outbreaks of protest have occurred over the past 150 years.

In 1848, anti-monarchy uprisings that started in Sicily occurred across continental Europe. In 1989, protests helped topple communist regimes throughout East Central Europe. In the early 2000s, the so-called “Color Revolutions” gripped the region again, this time in response to fraudulent elections.

When protests occur in quick succession in a number of countries like this, it gives the appearance that they are spreading. In fact, protests may break out in clusters because countries are similarly affected by common world events, such as increases in fuel prices, the collapse of international banks or the end of the Cold War.

In other words, activists in one country are not emulating one another – they are reacting to the same societal problems.

In recent months, for example, Burkina Faso, Sudan and Zimbabwe have all seen demonstrations against fuel hikes, high food prices and generalized economic insecurity – the same issue that first angered French workers. But none of these marches include yellow vests.

So why have activists everywhere from Iraq to Israel adopted the yellow vest motif?

Shared symbolism has power. When demonstrators in one place don French-style yellow vests, it makes their protests appear to be part of a larger movement. This attracts more attention from the media, which, in turn, fuels the perception that protests are spreading.

Explaining why the Iraqi yellow vest protests appropriated the French symbol, one organizer told NBC News simply, “We thought that we would be more organized if we wear these vests.”

Egypt even banned the sale of yellow vests prior to the anniversary of its Jan. 28, 2011, Tahrir Square uprising.

Meanwhile, some yellow vest protesters in France who reject the movement’s increasing radicalism are organizing their own anti-government protests. Their new movement has a symbol, too: red scarves.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article here: http://theconversation.com/yellow-vest-protests-erupt-in-iraq-bulgaria-and-beyond-but-dont-expect-a-yellow-wave-110692. </s> A number of Total's fuel depots were blockaded by 'yellow vest' protesters, angry over skyrocketing gasoline prices in France, as massive demonstrations continue to rage across the country.. Two facilities, one near the northwest city of Rennes, and the other in Fos-sur-Mer in the south, are operated by Total, the spokesman said.The third depot blocked by the demonstrators is partially owned but not run by the corporation and is located in La Rochelle.Aside from the fuel depots, France's major motorways and roundabouts remain blocked by dozens of barricades. Other protesters continued to camp out in parking lots outside supermarkets.Many demonstrators wear distinctive yellow vests which became a recognizable symbol of a grassroots movement behind the protests.A new wave of protests erupted this Saturday with almost 300,000 people taking to the streets of French cities to spew anger at President Emmanuel Macron and the French government who recently decided to raise fuel prices through additional environmental taxes."Gasoline prices never stop rising. It's the straw that broke the camel's back. Macron and his buddies just let... things go from bad to worse," one protester told RT this weekend.The measure, meant to combat air pollution, was predictably met with little praise by the French people. At one point, the protests even turned violent, leaving over 400 people injured, according to France24.The movement first emerged on social media last month over a surge in fuel prices this year, and quickly snowballed into a broader umbrella organization.Police deployed numerous officers to protests-hit areas but bringing the situation fully under control proved to be quite a challenge.
Nationwide protests organised by the French Confédération Générale du Travail union attract over 18,000 people in Paris, including many supporters of the Yellow vest movement.