WORLD

Massive protests rock Paris as UK media focuses on Hong Kong

21 September, 2019
David Clews

French police fired tear gas and drove back protesters from streets around the Champs-Elysées and the Jardin du Luxembourg in central Paris on Saturday as the gilets jaunes movement announced a post-holiday comeback. Authorities deployed 7,500 members of the security forces in the capital in a massive show of force. Demonstrations were banned in eight parts of the city, including key government buildings and tourist sites such as the Eiffel Tower and the Arc de Triomphe.

President Emmanuel Macron’s government was aiming to halt the scenes that led to the vandalising of the Arc de Triomphe and the ransacking of shops along the Champs-Elysées, the famous Paris shopping avenue, in December and March. By mid-afternoon, police said they had held 137 people for questioning and searched hundreds more to seize weapons and equipment used by potential rioters. Scores of young “black bloc” revolutionaries infiltrated a demonstration by thousands of gilets jaunes and anti-capitalists marching for the global climate and for social justice on the Boulevard Saint-Michel near the Jardin du Luxembourg. They smashed bus shelters and shop windows and set fire to motorcycles in the road.

The violence and the police action to prevent demonstrators reaching banned areas led to the closure of museums such as the Grand Palais and of key bridges across the Seine on Saturday, and severely disrupted an annual heritage weekend when government and private buildings are opened for public viewing. Mr Macron responded to the gilets jaunes protests by abandoning the green fuel tax rises, releasing billions of euros in government spending to improve rewards for low-paid workers and launching a two-month “great national debate” to discuss everything from the cost of living to immigration.

Saturday’s protests interfered with France’s annual Heritage Day, when well-known sites open their doors to the public. On Friday, President Macron said it was good that that people could express themselves but asked that the protests proceeded in a “calm” manner. He has not yet commented on Saturday’s events.

Questions continue to be asked on social media about the paltry coverage the mass demonstrations in France receive on the UK media such as the BBC and Sky compared to the protests in Hong Kong. Sky News even has a live team embedded with the demonstrators in Hong Kong. The majority of people in the UK have little or no knowledge of the weekly disturbances taking place in France due to the mass media blackout.

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