Hundreds of thousands of people have turned out in the streets of France to protest French President Emmanuel Macron’s left-wing climate change policies which include increasing taxes that are highly burdensome to the working class.
“As part of his environmental policy strategy, French President Emmanuel Macron announced a green tax on fuel last month to go into effect Jan. 1,” NPR reported on Monday. “The move set off nearly a month of protests around France. The French Interior Ministry estimates 136,000 protesters turned out across the country over the weekend, in addition to 280,000 in previous weeks.”
Violence broke out over the weekend in Paris when “ultraleft and ultraright” protesters “defaced the Arc de Triomphe and the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, looted shops, vandalized buildings and even attacked police.”
WATCH:
WATCH: Cars are being set ablaze across Paris as demonstrations continue against proposed French fuel taxes #GiletsJaunes pic.twitter.com/ZkCHMO0lHq
— TicToc by Bloomberg (@tictoc) December 1, 2018
NPR notes that the protesters’ initial demand was to repeal the green tax but now they also want the minimum wage to be raised and they want Macron to resign.
WATCH:
Perhaps @EmmanuelMacron, you could sort out the shithole that is your own country before dishing out threats to Britain… ?? pic.twitter.com/rmahV6UnwB
— Leave.EU (@LeaveEUOfficial) December 2, 2018
NPR added that, according to a new poll, many of the protesters are fed up with politicians from the political establishment and support the protesters:
According to a poll conducted Sunday by Harris Interactive for French media, 72 percent of French people support the yellow vests, even after Saturday’s riots. But 85 percent responded they are against the violence. Four people have now died since the protests began three weeks ago. Three were killed in separate traffic accidents caused by roadblocks set up by yellow vests, and an 80-year-old woman in Marseille died from injuries she received when a tear gas grenade hit her in the face as she closed her apartment windows to protests below.
The Daily Mail noted that the riots in France are the worst riots the country has faced since the 1960s as least 133 people, including 23 police officers, have been hurt.
WATCH:
‘Yellow Jacket’ protests could spur state of emergency in France; Paris riots worst since student uprising five decades ago. https://t.co/Yod8LT0Kos pic.twitter.com/xtddL4ryxe
— MSNBC (@MSNBC) December 3, 2018
The Daily Wire reported on Monday that American media has largely ignored that the root of the violent protests are leftist climate change policies:
The American media, of course, has a vested interest in maintaining audience concern over global warming, which is why CNN and CBS left out key details about France’s exorbitant fuel prices; many on the Left would love for the American government to institute similar, heavy-handed controls designed to “save the planet” at taxpayers’ expense.
The protests come as the United Nations Climate Conference kicked off on Monday, where alarmists warned that climate change will lead to the “collapse of our civilizations and the extinction of much of the natural world is on the horizon.”
Via DailyCaller
