Three days from Christmas, fewer French “yellow vests” turned out for a sixth Saturday of protests, targeting border points as a fatal road accident brought the death toll to 10 since the movement began last month.
Around 23,800 people joined demonstrations across France, compared with 33,500 a week earlier, the Interior Ministry said.
In Paris, the scene of violent clashes during previous demonstrations, around 2,000 protesters joined rallies scattered around the city, police said at midday.
As evening fell, violence clashes broke out on the iconic Champs-Elysees avenue, where many shops had remained opened for business in the busy weekend before Christmas.
Junior economy minister Agnes Pannier-Runacher told BFM television that French stores reported an average drop-off of 25 percent in sales compared with the same period a year earlier.
She also warned that thousands of jobs might be at risk and that some smaller businesses faced cash-flow problems.
Paris police said 109 people had been detained, including a “yellow vest” leader, Eric Drouet.
Authorities were also posted at the Palace of Versailles outside Paris which was closed to visitors.
– Car driver dies at roadblock –
Near the border between France and Spain hundreds of protesters disrupted traffic as they gathered around an autoroute toll booth.
Police fired tear gas to disperse the “yellow vests” who retreated to a bridge, an AFP photographer at the scene said.
France borders the Catalan region of Spain, and the protesters were joined by dozens of Catalan pro-independence activists, also wearing yellow vests.
The separatists often block highways to protest against Madrid’s rejection of Catalonia’s independence referendum in October 2017.
Even though their goals are different, “this demonstration at the Boulou (toll booth) is symbolic, it shows the solidarity between the Spanish Catalans and the French,” said Marcel, a 49-year-old winegrower.
AFP / Valery HACHE A woman in a yellow vest stands on a car during a demonstration blocking traffic in Ventimiglia near the French-Italian border
Roadblocks were also reported near the border with Italy and at a bridge in Strasbourg near the German border.
A driver died overnight when his car slammed into the back of a truck stopped at a roadblock set up by “yellow vest” protesters at an autoroute entrance in Perpignan on the Mediterranean coast, prosecutor Jean-Jacques Fagni told AFP.
There have now been 10 deaths related to the protests since they began on November 17.
– Macron effigy –
AFP / Sameer Al-Doumy A yellow vest protestor with a Christmas hat walks in the Montmartre area in Paris, one of several demonstrations across France, albeit numbers were down on previous rallies
A Facebook event organised by Drouet had listed thousands of people “interested” in joining the Versailles demonstration but only around 60 have shown up.
Further demonstrations of several hundred “yellow vests” were reported in Bordeaux, Lille, Lyon, Marseille and Rouen.
In Angouleme, southwest France, a puppet effigy of President Emmanuel Macron was decapitated Friday during a “yellow vest” protest, regional authorities said.
Meanwhile, police fired tear gas to disperse around 80 protesters who gathered Saturday near Macron’s home in the Channel coast town of Le Touquet.
The number of protesters has dropped sharply since last week, when Macron, a pro-business centrist, gave in to some of their demands.
A peak was marked on November 17 with 282,000 demonstrators.
AFP / Sameer Al-Doumy A “yellow vest” protester holds a banner reading “If the wealthy give back the money there will be no more needy” on the sixth Saturday of protests in Paris
The movement characterised by the high-visibility yellow vests worn by protesters was sparked by planned fuel tax hikes, but it then morphed into a widespread demonstration against Macron’s policies and style of governing.
On Friday, the French Senate approved measures to help the working poor and pensioners — just hours after they were adopted by the lower house of parliament — which aim to quell “yellow vest” anger and should come into force early in 2019.
AFP
