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Thousands of "gilets jaunes" (yellow vest) protesters, often masked, riot in the streets of Paris and other major French cities for a third weekend. Hundreds have been arrested and injured (including police) in the often violent protests. Reuters documents the activities in some detail. This video shows a mob of protesters surround and attack a policeman (it's ok, he gets away, with help from one or more of the protesters).
The protests are over fuel taxes imposed to discourage fossil fuel use and help France meet its carbon emission goals under the Paris Climate Accord (which the U.S. is not party to.)
With the usual nod to common sense:
The U.S. embassy issued a statement urging citizens to be careful, saying that "violent clashes between police and protesters" continued in at least three of Paris's 20 districts, known as arrondissements. "Avoid all demonstrations, seek shelter in the vicinity of clashes, follow instructions of security personnel"
Chants and graffiti sprayed during the protests sometimes expresses frustration with the administration:
[Some] targeted the Arc de Triomphe, chanting "Macron Resign" and scrawling on the facade of the towering 19th-century arch: "The yellow vests will triumph."
And other times simply more general anarchistic statements:
Protesters smashed the windows of a newly opened flagship Apple Store (AAPL.O) and luxury boutiques of Chanel and Dior, where they daubed the slogan "Merry Mayhem" on a wooden board.
French President Emmanuel Macron commented Tuesday on the protests, saying that:
he understood the anger of voters outside France's big cities over the squeeze fuel prices have put on households. But he insisted he would not be bounced into changing policy by "thugs".
Those "conciliatory" words have no doubt improved the situation.
The protests enjoy widespread support inside and outside the major cities, including from many of the police even as they strive to keep order, and show no signs of abating.
Also at NBC.
(Score: 2) by legont on Tuesday December 04 2018, @01:18AM (3 children)
I just searched "most protesters in 30s and 40s" for the last week. There are many mentions from wide political spectrum news sources; here is one: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/02/world/europe/france-macron-yellow-vest-protests.html [nytimes.com]
"Wealth is the relentless enemy of understanding" - John Kenneth Galbraith.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Tuesday December 04 2018, @03:27AM (2 children)
The only place in which the linked mention the age bracket is:
So "the under 500 troublemakers arrested are in majority in their 30s and 40s" and not "the demonstration was made in majority by people in their 30s and 40s".
Back to you, maybe you'll find some better citations or adjust your mind in this regard.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 2) by legont on Tuesday December 04 2018, @07:04AM (1 child)
Well, it's even more interesting. The most aggressive of the protesters - the one actually violating the law, burning buildings and beating the police - are people from the most productive age bracket; people who usually busy at home mending children.
And you are a troll.
"Wealth is the relentless enemy of understanding" - John Kenneth Galbraith.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Tuesday December 04 2018, @08:51AM
All of the arrested are less than 500 in a crowd of 75,000.
Assuming all of them are in the age bracket we talk about, that's 0.6%. I can't consider such a percentage representative for the entire "most productive age bracket", I think that saying "99.4% of people are well behaved" is saying "the population is well behaved within reason".
Just to make sure: you don't actually want to blame 99.4% of well behaved people for participating in a civic protest for not being insteadd "busy at home mending children", do you?
How come? Did I misrepresent anything with the purpose of inflaming the readers?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford