RTFri, 04 Jan 2019 19:29 UTC
© Reuters / Stephane MaheFile Photo: A Yellow vest protester during a protest in the French city of Nantes, December 22, 2018
The Yellow Vest movement has become full of agitators who only want to "overthrow the government," a spokesman for President Emmanuel Macron's government said of the protests that gripped France since November.
Benjamin Griveaux made the
comments following the government's first Council of Ministers meeting of 2019 on Friday, as cabinet members returned from their two week Christmas break.
He addressed those "still mobilized among the Yellow Vests," saying the movement has "become the act of agitators who want insurrection and to overthrow the government."
Griveaux added that the government was "ready to discuss with sincere people who do not turn the difficulties of fellow countrymen into a political instrument."
Starting last November, the leaderless Yellow Vest movement started as a series of protests against a proposed hike in fuel prices. The clashes between the police and protesters resulted in thousands arrested and hundreds injured. In early December the fuel tax increase was ditched, but the movement has since broadened its agenda to include opposition to wider policy changes proposed under Macron's reform agenda, which critics say favor the rich while the standards of living for the majority of French citizens continue to decline. Macron
promised small salary increases, but insisted the government would not yield to the pressure and continue with its course.
Ahead of a planned eighth national day of protest scheduled for Saturday, January 5, a collective associated with the movement penned an open letter to Macron. Calling Paris the capital of "restriction of individual liberties," the activists said they would continue to fight inequality and police repression.
Comment: RT
reports what the protesters are actually demanding:
Stop treating people like beggars or face hatred - Yellow Vests to Macron
A group associated with Yellow Vests has written a fiery open letter to Emmanuel Macron, warning the French president against treating people like beggars, rejecting his nationwide debate, and demanding a major tax reduction.
The missive was posted in the Angry France group on Facebook, which unites almost 300,000 supporters of the Yellow Vest movement, and was also sent to the local media late on Thursday.
"Anger will turn into hatred if you continue, from your pedestal, you and your associates, to look at little people like beggars," the protesters warned Macron.
The 3-page manifesto by Angry France also turned down Macron's invitation to take part in the national debate, which the president ordered in response to the violent protests that gripped the country every week-end since November.
The debate was a "political trap" designed to drown the issue that "terrifies" the head of state so much, the letter read.
The Yellow Vest activists also demanded a "significant reduction in all taxes on essential goods" for the French people paired with an equally significant reduction in pensions and salaries for the elected politicians and senior civil servants.
Protests in France appeared to be calming down recently, but Yellow Vest activists have been posting calls on social media for new rallies to take place on the first Saturday of 2019 in Paris, Lyon, Bordeaux, Toulouse, Strasbourg and other cities.
The Yellow West movement, which got its name after the high-visibility jackets worn by the demonstrators, kicked off in November over a proposed hike in fuel taxes. As protests got increasingly violent and spanned more and more cities, the government dropped the planned increase.
Demonstrations continued due to the movement already morphing into wider discontent with Macron's pro-business agenda, decline in living standards and growing inequality.
Macron's government are trying to deflect from the real issues, because the majority of Yellow Vests agreed to and provided a clear
manifesto of what they want implemented, and they need a government to do that. However It is true that they want Macron, who represents the very elites and policies destroying France, gone (although you'd never know that from
watching mainstream French news).
See also:
The Yellow Vests are out again today, Saturday 5th January, which makes it 8 weeks since the protests began:
Comment: RT reports what the protesters are actually demanding: Macron's government are trying to deflect from the real issues, because the majority of Yellow Vests agreed to and provided a clear manifesto of what they want implemented, and they need a government to do that. However It is true that they want Macron, who represents the very elites and policies destroying France, gone (although you'd never know that from watching mainstream French news).
See also:
The Yellow Vests are out again today, Saturday 5th January, which makes it 8 weeks since the protests began: