RTMon, 17 Dec 2018 16:52 UTC
© AFP / Jean-Francois MonierFILE PHOTO: Yellow vests protesters at the South Le Mans ring road, northwestern France
French road operator VINCI Autoroutes says it has become the latest victim of the nationwide Yellow Vest protests. It claims weeks of rallies and attacks on highways and facilities resulted in tens of millions of euros in damages.
The company
reported on Sunday that the wave of demonstrations
had affected some 250 of its sites since the beginning of the anti-fuel tax hike movement in November.
Angry crowds burned at least 6 buildings and more than 30 vehicles, and vandalized several facilities and interchanges in addition to other destruction.The latest major highways which suffered from the Yellow Vest
blockades on Saturday were A7, A9 and A20. Last weekend, the movement's actions were reportedly calmer and fewer participants hit the streets compared to the week before. The protesters lit fires right in the middle of the road, blocking traffic, and turned one of the entry points to the highway into their
"camp."
The company's report is the latest signal that
the movement is hurting the French economy. Last week, the Bank of France lowered the GDP growth forecast for 2018 and 2019 from 1.6 percent to 1.5 percent, warning that the longer the unrest lasts the greater the losses will be for the national economy. In real money the sum amounts to $2.8 billion based on the IMF forecast for the country's GDP of almost $2.8 trillion for 2018.
Comment: You know the saying, to make an omelette you have to break some eggs. Because, while the reported damage might be true - and we have to remember the establishment is doing its best to paint the protesters in a bad light - it's a distraction from the greater issue which is the protests are in response to the complete gutting of society by the rulers of the country whose damage, by comparison, would be incalculable and potentially irreparable:
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Comment: You know the saying, to make an omelette you have to break some eggs. Because, while the reported damage might be true - and we have to remember the establishment is doing its best to paint the protesters in a bad light - it's a distraction from the greater issue which is the protests are in response to the complete gutting of society by the rulers of the country whose damage, by comparison, would be incalculable and potentially irreparable: