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December 5, 2018

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France suspends tax but protests continue unabated

THE French government’s decision to suspend fuel tax and utility hikes yesterday did little to appease protesters, who called the move a “first step” and vowed to fight on after large-scale rioting in Paris last weekend.

In a major U-turn for the government, Prime Minister Edouard Philippe announced in a live televised address that the planned increases, which were set to be introduced in January, would be postponed until summer.

The backpedaling by French President Emmanuel Macron’s government appeared designed to calm the nation, coming three days after the worst unrest on the streets of Paris in decades.

“No tax is worth putting the nation’s unity in danger,” Philippe said, just three weeks after insisting that the government wouldn’t change course in its determination to wean French consumers off polluting fossil fuels.

But demonstrations continued around the country yesterday.

Protesters wearing their signature fluorescent yellow vests kept blocking several fuel depots and, on a highway near the southern city of Aubagne, protesters took over a toll booth to let vehicles pass for free. They put up a sign by the side of the road reading “Macron dictator.”

“It’s a first step, but we will not settle for a crumb,” said Benjamin Cauchy, a protest leader.

In the nearby port city of Marseille, students clashed with police outside a high school. Student protests blocked or otherwise disrupted about 100 high schools around the country yesterday, according to the French Education Ministry.

Many of the demonstrations were over a new university application system.

More protests were expected this weekend in Paris.

Last weekend, more than 130 people were injured and 412 arrested in the French capital. Shops were looted and cars torched in plush neighborhoods around the famed Champs-Elysees Avenue.

The Arc de Triomphe, which is home to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and was visited by world leaders last month to mark the centenary of the end of World War I, was sprayed with graffiti and vandalized.

“This violence must end,” Philippe said.

Philippe held crisis talks with representatives of major political parties on Monday, and met with Macron, who canceled a two-day trip to Serbia amid the most serious challenge to his presidency since his election in May 2017.




 

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