France in flames as 'yellow vests' hit streets despite Macron concessions

Violent protests have erupted once again in France with the "yellow vest" movement demanding even more concessions from President Emmanuel Macron, saying the measures he announced were not enough.

Protests and road barricades at roundabouts and toll-booths across France continued as the demonstrations saw further clashes with riot police on Tuesday. They labelled the rally ‘Black Tuesday’ and are planning another demonstration this weekend taking it into a fourth successive weekend

Media reports said blockades continued on roads from Brittany to the south of France on Monday night and Tuesday morning.

A group of angry protesters even bricked up the entrance of the local government office in Mont-de-Marsan in southwest France shortly after Macron’s speech.

University and high-school and students also continued their blockades and strikes over education reforms. The students took to their knees with their hands on their head as they continued their strike over school and university reforms.

In a 12-minute TV address on Monday, Macron had promised a minimum wage rise and tax concessions in response to the public outcry over rising fuel tax and cost of living.  The defiant president also acknowledged the anger was not just directed at him but had built up for 40 years.

Reacting to the speech, many protesters said the distrust of Macron was now so high that the protests would not stop. They said nothing was being offered to people on slightly higher than the minimum wage or for public sector salaries, which remain low.

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Thomas Miralles, a Yellow Vest spokesman in the southern Pyrenees-Orientales department, said Macron had failed to listen to protesters and vowed to come to Paris this Saturday for his first demonstration in the capital.

Another protester in the north told AFP it was too, little too late and Macron was “putting plasters on a third-degree burn”.

At a roundabout in the southern town of Le Boulou, a car mechanic who was protesting said: “We can see that he isn’t sincere, that it’s all smoke and mirrors.”

Opposition parties criticized Macron. The socialist Valérie Rabault said there had been no detail on how the promises would be funded and that taxpayers were likely to have to foot the bill.

The far-right politician Marine Le Pen said Macron still failed to protect citizens in the face of “savage” globalization.

The leftwing Jean-Luc Mélenchon said Macron was mistaken if he thought “a distribution of money” would calm “the insurrection”.

Some on the left attacked Macron for what were deemed dog-whistle tactics by referring to immigration and French secularism in his speech. The French president had said in his speech that “the question of immigration” must be dealt with.

For several weeks, people in France have been protesting the economic policies of President Macron, who has been labeled as the “president of the rich.” Spurred by rising fuel prices, the protests have grown into a broad movement against Macron’s policies and governing style.

The unrest has inspired similar protests in Belgium and the Netherlands.

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