France to suspend fuel price hike after ‘yellow vest’ protests
By Euan McKirdy and Saskya Vandoorne, CNN
Updated
6:07 AM EST, Wed December 5, 2018
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(CNN) —
France will suspend fuel price hikes after ongoing protests turned violent over the weekend, in a major concession by President Emmanuel Macron’s government.
According to CNN affiliate BFMTV, Prime Minister Edouard Philippe will announce a moratorium Tuesday on fuel price hikes, which had been scheduled to come into effect on January 1.
The rising cost of gasoline and diesel fuel sparked protests that have since evolved into broader demonstrations against Macron’s government, exposing tensions between the metropolitan elite and rural poor.
The protesters, known as the “gilets jaunes,” take their name from the high-visibility yellow vests that drivers are required to keep in their vehicles for safety reasons.
Photos: In photos: Protests in France
A yellow vest demonstrator faces riot police officers in Marseille, France, on Saturday, January 5, 2019.
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BORIS HORVAT/AFP/Getty Images
Photos: In photos: Protests in France
Riot police stand in tear gas in Toulouse, France, during a protest January 5.
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PASCAL PAVANI/AFP/Getty Images
Photos: In photos: Protests in France
Yellow vest protestors kneel in Lyon on January 5. About 50,000 people demonstrated throughout France on Saturday, according to Interior Minister Christophe Castaner.
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Romain Lafabregue/AFP/Getty Images
Photos: In photos: Protests in France
Protesters warm their hands over a burning tree in a Paris street on January 5.
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Lionel Urman/SIPA/AP
Photos: In photos: Protests in France
A firefighter tries to extinguish a burning car in a street in Paris on January 5.
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Ameer Al-Doumy/AFP/Getty Images
Photos: In photos: Protests in France
Protesters confront police during a "yellow vest" demonstration Saturday, December 22, in central Paris.
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Christian Hartmann/Reuters
Photos: In photos: Protests in France
Demonstrators rally in the Montmartre area of Paris on December 22.
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Sameer Al-Doumy/AFP/Getty Images
Photos: In photos: Protests in France
Protesters block a highway near the French border with Spain on December 22 in Biriatou, France.
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Bob Edme/AP
Photos: In photos: Protests in France
Demonstators turn out December 22 near toll booths on the A9 highway in Le Boulou, France.
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Raymond Roig/AFP/Getty Images
Photos: In photos: Protests in France
Protesters gather December 15 at Place de l'Opera in Paris.
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Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images
Photos: In photos: Protests in France
Activists dressed like Marianne, the symbol of the French Republic, face riot police on December 15 in Paris.
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Kamil Zihnioglu/AP
Photos: In photos: Protests in France
Demonstrators wearing yellow vests form a human tower December 15 on the Champs-Élysées in Paris.
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Kamil Zihnioglu/AP
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A police water cannon sprays demonstrators on December 15 in Paris.
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Michel Euler/AP
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Protesters take part in a demonstration on December 15 in Paris.
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Benoit Tessier/REUTERS
Photos: In photos: Protests in France
Demonstrators run through tear gas during scuffles with police December 15 on the Champs-Élysées in Paris.
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Kamil Zihnioglu/AP
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Police use tear gas on protesters at the Place de l'Opera in Paris on December 15.
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Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images
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A protester waves the French national flag during a demonstration on the Champs-Élysées in Paris on December 15.
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Valery Hache/AFP/Getty Images
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French police apprehend a man on December 8 during a protest in Paris.
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Piroschka van de Wouw/REUTERS
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Protesters wearing yellow vests gather on December 8 in front of the Eiffel Tower in Paris.
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Christian Hartmann/REUTERS
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Demonstrators drop flat to the ground on the Champs-Elysees avenue during a protest on Saturday, December 8, in Paris.
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Protesters install a barricade during clashes with police at a demonstration in Paris on December 8.
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Protesters gather on December 8 in Paris.
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A demonstrator is covered in blood after getting in injured during a protest in Paris on December 8.
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Protesters wearing yellow vests walk on the Champs-Elysees Avenue with the Arc de Triomphe in the background during a protest on December 8.
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Two demonstrators dance in front a group as they take part on December 8 in the demonstration at the Arc de Triomphe in Paris.
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A protester reacts during clashes with police on December 8 in Paris.
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French gendarmes apprehend a protester on December 8 in Paris.
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Stephane Mahe/REUTERS
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Protesters throw objects at riot police on Saturday, December 1, during a demonstration that turned violent when protestors clashed with police in Paris.
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Alain Pitton/NurPhoto/Getty Images
Photos: In photos: Protests in France
An injured woman sits on the ground as police officers spray yellow vest protesters with tear gas during a protest in Paris on December 1.
A burned car is left in the street a day after the yellow vests demonstration against rising oil prices and living costs in Paris on December 1.
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Geoffroy Van Der Hasselt/AFP/Getty Images
Photos: In photos: Protests in France
Firemen work to extinguish a burning car on December 1.
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A demonstrator leaves as water cannons evacuate the Place de l'Etoile on December 1.
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Kamil Zihnioglu/AP
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A demonstrator watches a burning car near the Champs-Elysees avenue on December 1.
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Kamil Zihnioglu/AP
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Riot police officers stand in position during clashes with demonstrators on December 1.
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Lucas BariouletAFP/Getty Images
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Protesters and police clash in downtown Paris on December 1 during a national demonstration.
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Laurence Geai/SIPA/AP
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Hooded demonstrators smash a car.
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Thibault Camus/AP
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A demonstrator throws a projectile during the December 1 protest.
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Geoffroy Van Der Hasselt/AFP/Getty Images
Photos: In photos: Protests in France
A demonstrator treats a wounded man during a protest where police and demonstrators clashed, injuring dozens on December 1.
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Lucas Barioulet/AFP/Getty Images
Photos: In photos: Protests in France
French gendarmes apprehend a protester in Paris on December 1.
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Lucas BariouletAFP/Getty Images
Macron had asked political leaders to meet the protest organizers this week. However, two protesters who claim to lead the group, Benjamin Cauchy and Jacqueline Moreau, have pulled out of a meeting with Prime Minister Philippe planned for Tuesday,according to the movement’s spokesman, Maxime Nicole.
Philippe canceled a trip to the COP24 climate conference in Poland to address the issue, which had threatened to flare again this coming weekend.
The government is likely hoping the suspension of the fuel hikes will take some heat out of the protests, which brought an estimated 36,000 people onto the streets of France on Saturday alone.
"Gilets jaunes" protesters at the Champs Elysees in Paris on Saturday
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Emma Prosdocimi/SIPA/AP
Around 400 people were arrested after a violent minority turned on police, throwing projectiles and vandalizing statues.
Around 400 people were arrested after a violent minority turned on police, throwing projectiles and vandalizing statues.
The city’s famed Arc de Triomphe was scrawled with slogans in support of the yellow vest movement and others criticizing Macron as the President “of the rich.”
Students have also joined the “yellow vests” movement and, according to Reuters, demonstrators set buildings on fire and there were violent clashes with police on Tuesday.
Saint-Exupery high school located in Blagnac near Toulouse in southwest France had been set on fire on Tuesday, Reuters reported.
Access to schools in Creteil and Versailles was also blocked, Reuters said.
The news agency also reported that there were clashes in Lyon, Marseille, Bordeaux and Orleans.
Paris prosecutor Remy Heitz said that among the protesters were people from across the country who had descended upon Paris with the express intent of causing trouble.
He added that authorities would crack down hardest on those who had joined the street demonstrations explicitly to carry out violent acts.
“There are varied profiles but there are definitely profiles of people who have come from the provinces all over France, obviously to carry out acts of violence, and it is to these people that the criminal response I will say will be the strongest.”
How the ‘Yellow Vests’ formed
The cost of diesel has surged 16% this year from an average €1.24 ($1.41) per liter to €1.48 ($1.69), even hitting €1.53 ($1.74) in October, according to UFIP, France’s oil industry federation.
Protesters reacted by taking to the streets of Paris, setting fire to tires – even cars, in some instances – for two weekends in a row. Violence has left at least two people dead and more than 600 people injured. Protesters struck some of the wealthiest parts of the French capital, looting luxury shops and smashing bank windows. Police have arrested hundreds.
The “gilets jaunes” may have begun with motorists protesting the tax rise, but it has since mushroomed into a movement against the reformist policies of Macron, thrusting the most severe political crisis on the 40-year-old leader since he took office 19 months ago.
The “gilets jaunes” is a grassroots movement that emerged online with Facebook events set up by regular citizens to coordinate road blockades across France.
The movement has no ties to the big French trade unions that usually organize large-scale protests in the country, nor does it have formal spokespeople. Some protesters say that Cauchy and Moreau, who have spoken on behalf of the group, are not their legitimate leaders.
The group mirrors Macron’s own rise to power, which began with the creation of his own grassroots movement, “En Marche!” (“On the move!”), and no backing by the big established parties. Macron said he was neither from the left nor right, just that he was “for France” and branded himself as a man of the people. Macron campaigned on promises to radically change France and his ideas were published in a book he wrote called “Revolution.”
Macron is just the latest of many French leaders who have lost support for trying to transform France into a friendlier nation for doing business. His slashing of the wealth tax, for example, was unpopular and triggered criticism that he works for the elite and condescends to the poor.
One of the thousands of protesters who took to the streets to call for lower fuel prices
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NurPhoto/NurPhoto/NurPhoto via Getty Images
Many at the protests in Paris came in from rural areas and say they are struggling to make ends meet. Maxime Nicolle, 31, who was at a protest Saturday, is from a rural part of Brittany, and has been a member of the “gilets jaunes” since its creation in November.
He said his family of three struggles to survive on €1,500 a month. “It’s really about inequality and how the wealth is distributed. It’s a battle between the financial system and the population,” he told CNN.
Hugo Melchior, from a wealthy neighborhood in Rennes, northwest France, doesn’t even own a car, yet he supports the movement.
“We are dealing with a convergence of anger, frustration, exasperation and weariness that’s been suppressed for too long. And they now have this immense power, they find themselves able to act together at a local level against a common enemy – the state power personified by President Emmanuel Macron, who incites hatred because of his endless arrogance.”
CNN’s Saskya Vandoorne reported from Paris, Euan McKirdy wrote from Hong Kong, Angela Dewan and Bianca Britton contributed from London.
