- Title: France's 'yellow vests' return to the streets for movement's 42nd week
- Date: 31st August 2019
- Summary: PARIS, FRANCE (AUGUST 31, 2019) (REUTERS) "YELLOW VEST" PROTESTERS HOLDING BANNER, CHANTING AND JUMPING POLICE AND PROTESTER VARIOUS OF PROTESTERS MARCHING WOMEN CHANTING WITH FIST IN AIR WOMAN WEARING YELLOW VEST (SOUNDBITE) (French) PARISIAN RETIREE AND "YELLOW VEST" PROTESTER, ISABELLE, SAYING: "As a 'yellow vest' and a unionist, I tell myself that everybody has to take to the streets and not hold small demonstrations here and there. Everybody has to be together to fight because if we are divided, that's a convenience for this government, which is in the process of putting in place the Shock Doctrine (rise of capitalism) very, very, very quickly to destroy everything very, very quickly and exhaust people of air. I think we really, really have to take to the streets, and I call on the convergence of causes - really, the convergence of causes." PROTESTER HOLDING BANNER (SOUNDBITE) (French) PARISIAN RETIREE AND "YELLOW VEST" PROTESTER, HERVE, SAYING: "I hope all the 'yellow vests' and the French people will realise that we still have to obtain a lot of things, that we haven't really been heard. There have been of injured people - injured people and deaths. We have experienced a very dismissive treatment of this movement. That's all that's on the table at the moment - a big discontent and ineffective responses, or even dismissal and some continue to look down on us. So I do hope that this will regain steam. I really hope that we accomplish something, that we wouldn't have done all this in vain." POLICE POLICE AND PROTESTERS GATHERED
- Embargoed: 14th September 2019 13:46
- Keywords: Yellow vests 42nd round of protests France Emmanuel Macron demonstrations police
- Location: PARIS, FRANCE
- City: PARIS, FRANCE
- Country: France
- Topics: Government/Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA001AUJTNPJ
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Around 200 "yellow vest" protesters gathered in Paris on Saturday (August 31) for the 42nd week of the often-violent anti-government movement.
Protesters, who continued to demand higher "purchasing power and fiscal justice" from President Emmanuel Macron's government, held banners and chanted as they marched from the French capital's Place de Gambetta square.
The movement has been losing steam in recent months, as turnout remained well below earlier peaks seen in November and December 2018, when an estimated 300,000 took to the streets on Saturdays in protests that often resulted in widespread violence and vandalism in Paris.
The "yellow vests" protests, named after the bright jackets French drivers have to keep in their cars and which have been worn by demonstrators, began in November after public anger against fuel tax rises. Those were subsequently scrapped but the movement has since morphed into a broader anti-government protest.
The number of protesters has gradually fallen as a result of measures taken by President Emmanuel Macron to quell the public anger, such as tax cuts to boost consumers' spending power.
Still, "yellow vests" have called for demonstrations in Paris on Sept. 21, as the movement's first anniversary nears.
(Production: Antony Paone, Ardee Napolitano) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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