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by
Guy Millière • February 2, 2019 at 5:00 am
- The
third group is extremely large: it is the rest of the population.
The upper class treat them as regrettable dead weight and expect
nothing from them except silence and submission. Its members often
have a hard time making ends meet. They pay taxes but can see that
a growing portion is being used to subsidize the very people who
drove them out of their suburban homes.
- For
the moment, Macron does not seem to want to recognize that these
people even exist.
- When
Macron lowered the taxes of the wealthiest but increased the taxes
of these "peripherals" by means of a fuel tax, it was
seen as the last straw -- in addition to his arrogant
condescension.
- "Today,
most of those who protest do not attack the police. But instead of
acting to bring down the violence, the police are receiving orders
pushing them to be very violent. I do not blame the police. I
blame those who give them orders". — Xavier Lemoine, the
mayor of Montfermeil, a city in the Eastern suburbs of Paris where
the 2005 riots were extremely destructive,
Police scuffle with a yellow vest
protester on December 18, 2018 in Biarritz, France. (Photo by Gari
Garaialde/Getty Images)
Saturday, January 26th 2019. "Yellow
vests" protests were being organized in the main cities of France.
Mobilization was not weakening. Support from the population had
decreased slightly but was still huge (60%-70%, according to polls).
The main slogan has remained the same since November 17, 2018:
"Macron must resign". In December, another slogan was added:
"Citizens' initiative referendum".
The government and French President Emmanuel Macron have
been doing everything they can to crush the movement. They have tried
insults, defamation and have said the demonstrators were both
"seditious people" wishing to overthrow the institutions and
fascist "brown shirts". On December 31, Macron described
them, as "hateful crowds". The presence of some anti-Semites
led a government spokesman (incorrectly) to describe the entire
movement as "anti-Semitic".
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