PARIS BURNS: Riot police fire tear gas as 30,000 protestors furious at Macron

[Cow Poke]

PARIS BURNS: Riot police fire tear gas as 30,000 protestors furious at Macron hit France

[rogue06]

PARIS BURNS: Riot police fire tear gas as 30,000 protestors furious at Macron hit France

%@#$*# Trump smiley fist shake.gif

[seer]

%@#$*# Trump

That Trump, he ruins everything!

[Terraceth]

Trump's approval rating of (roughly) 42% isn't that great, but it's better than Macron's 25% approval rating (which is about where Nixon's approval rating was when he resigned).

[Starlight]

PARIS BURNS

Seriously? This isn't the great fire of London. The city isn't burning to the ground. In fact, from the article, not a single building was on fire. Tabloids need to pretend everything is defcon 1 to sell themselves, but you don't need to repeat their nonsense here.

A lot of European countries seem to enjoy a good little riot in the streets over anything from a soccer match to politics, this isn't exactly unusual.

Macron is economically extremely right-wing and is loathed in France. About his only redeeming features are he's a moderate on social issues and isn't nasty to immigrants.

[Cow Poke]

Seriously? This isn't the great fire of London. The city isn't burning to the ground....

Yeah, I know.

[Cow Poke]

This is interesting...

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.

yellow vests.jpg

In Texas, State and Municipal employees (and tow truck operators, etc) must wear such jackets or vests when on the highway on foot, subject to a $5,000 fine -- in France, ALL motorists must have these vests?

[Cow Poke]

From AP...

[Starlight]

In Texas, State and Municipal employees (and tow truck operators, etc) must wear such jackets or vests when on the highway on foot, subject to a $5,000 fine -- in France, ALL motorists must have these vests?

Seems like. Google is telling me that if a car breaks down and motorists have to get out of their vehicle on the roadside they need to don a high vis vest which has to be within reach in the passenger area of the car rather than be in the trunk, and that this rule is fairly vigorously enforced.

I guess it's a product of too many people being hit and killed on the roadside while trying to deal with a breakdown? We've got no rules remotely like that here.

[Cow Poke]

Seems like. Google is telling me that if a car breaks down and motorists have to get out of their vehicle on the roadside they need to don a high vis vest which has to be within reach in the passenger area of the car rather than be in the trunk, and that this rule is fairly vigorously enforced.

I guess it's a product of too many people being hit and killed on the roadside while trying to deal with a breakdown? We've got no rules remotely like that here.

It's not totally wacky, it's pretty inexpensive, and it may save lives, so...

[rogue06]

Trump's approval rating of (roughly) 42% isn't that great, but it's better than Macron's 25% approval rating (which is about where Nixon's approval rating was when he resigned).

That's roughly where Nancy Pelosi's rating is at. And the Dems appear poised to maker her the face of their party once again

[rogue06]

Seriously? This isn't the great fire of London. The city isn't burning to the ground. In fact, from the article, not a single building was on fire. Tabloids need to pretend everything is defcon 1 to sell themselves, but you don't need to repeat their nonsense here.

A lot of European countries seem to enjoy a good little riot in the streets over anything from a soccer match to politics, this isn't exactly unusual.

Macron is economically extremely right-wing and is loathed in France. About his only redeeming features are he's a moderate on social issues and isn't nasty to immigrants.

Keep in mind folks this is the assessment of someone who declared that Joseph Stalin is a right winger Macron, who's roots are deep in France's socialist party, found he wasn't advancing through the party the way he thought he should, so he split with them and formed his own party moving a step or two to the right to distinguish himself from them. This of course makes him in starlight's topsy-turvy world "extremely right-wing" but in France he is viewed as a centrist.

[Cow Poke]

A little more info from Thomson Reuters Foundation

PARIS, Nov 24 (Reuters) - Police fired tear gas and used water cannon to disperse protesters in Paris who are angry over rising fuel costs and President Emmanuel Macron's economic policies, the second weekend of "yellow vest" protests that have caused disruption across France.

Several hundred protesters had converged on the Champs Elysees where they faced police sent to prevent them from reaching the nearby presidential Elysee Palace.

Some protesters sang the national anthem while others carried signs with slogans saying "Macron, resignation" and "Macron, thief".

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.

They are opposed to taxes Macron introduced last year on diesel and petrol which are designed to encourage people to shift to more environmentally friendly transport. Alongside the tax, the government has offered incentives to buy green or electric vehicles.

Security forces are concerned that far-left and far-right extremists may infiltrate the demonstrations, escalating the crowd-control challenges. Around 30,000 people are expected to protest in Paris alone, Denis Jacob, secretary general of police union Alternative Police, told Reuters.

"We know there are ultra-right and ultra-left infiltrators. You can also expect gangs from the suburbs and 'black-blocks'," he said, referring to a militant protest force.

Some 3,000 police officers have been drafted in to work in Paris on Saturday, city hall said, with security forces having to handle a demonstration against sexual violence, a soccer match and a rugby game in the capital on the same day.

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

PROTESTS SPREAD

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.

The unrest has left two dead and 606 injured in mainland France, the Interior Ministry said on Thursday.

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 percent. (Editing by Keith Weir)

[carpedm9587]

It's not totally wacky, it's pretty inexpensive, and it may save lives, so...

I'm curious. How does this square with objections to the "nanny state?"


P.S. I agree with you - such simple safeguards make sense.

[Cow Poke]

I'm curious. How does this square with objections to the "nanny state?"


P.S. I agree with you - such simple safeguards make sense.

I have never been against reasonable regulations.... not sure it would be feasible to make all US drivers have vests, but I've worked enough "person killed while changing tire" accidents that this doesn't sound very intrusive.