page_title: Yellow vests movement
section_title: 16 February: "Act XIV"
hierarchical_section_title: Yellow vests movement / Timeline / 16 February: "Act XIV"
caption_attribution_description: Les Gilets Jaunes
context_page_description: The yellow vests movement or yellow jackets movement is a populist, grassroots protest movement for economic justice that began in France in October 2018. After an online petition posted in May had attracted nearly a million signatures, mass demonstrations began on 17 November. The movement was initially motivated by rising fuel prices and a high cost of living; it claims that a disproportionate burden of the government's tax reforms were falling on the working and middle classes, especially in rural and peri-urban areas. The protesters have called for lower fuel taxes, a reintroduction of the solidarity tax on wealth, a minimum-wage increase, the implementation of Citizens' initiative referendums, among other things. On 29 November 2018, a list of 42 demands was made public and went viral on social media, becoming de facto a structuring basis for the movement, covering a wide range of eclectic topics, mostly related to democracy, social and fiscal justice.
  The movement spans the political spectrum.
context_section_description: About 41,500 protesters (5,000 in Paris) took to the streets again on Saturday 16 February, for the 14th consecutive weekend.
  In Paris, a group of individuals involved in the march confronted the high-profile Jewish philosopher and academician Alain Finkielkraut with anti-Semitic verbal abuse. Police stepped in to protect him, and Macron later said that this behaviour was an "absolute negation" of what made France great and would not be tolerated. The man leading the insults against the philosopher on published video-recordings of the event was detained for questioning on Tuesday on charges of hate speech. Police indicated he was close to the Salafi movement in 2014.
caption: Bordeaux, 9 February 2019
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