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6:25pm “Police were telling protesters to remove their yellow vests"…
12/15/18, “The Latest: French official reports 8th protest death," AP, Paris
“The Latest on France protests (all times local):
10:35 p.m.
“The
French interior minister says that an eighth person has died since the
start of a nationwide protest movement that began in mid-November over fuel tax hikes but has expanded to an array of issues.
Christophe Castaner said in a tweet on Saturday that the death occurred the previous night. He said that all traffic circles in France — some of which have been manned day and night by protesters — “should be freed.”
The
tweet provided no details about the death, but suggested that it
occurred at one of the traffic circle that dot the French countryside and where the majority of deaths have occurred.
The announcement of a new death followed a day of demonstrations around France for a fifth Saturday, though numbers of protesters were dramatically down.
___
9:25 p.m.
Paris police say 115 people were taken into custody in a day of mainly calm protests in the French capital that left seven people slightly injured.
In its fifth week on Saturday, the yellow vest movement saw far fewer protesters in Paris and around France.
The safety vests have become the symbol of a nationwide movement that
began in November against what protesters say is economic injustice
reserved for rank-and-file French.
Police put the number in Paris at about 3,000, compared to 10,000 a week ago, when protests degenerated into violence and looting for the second week in a row.
The French press quoted authorities as saying that 33,500 protesters turned out nationwide Saturday, less than half the number of the previous week.
___
6:25 p.m.
French police have pushed protesters off the Champs-Elysees in Paris with tear gas and water cannon, and re-opened the French capital’s famed avenue to traffic.
Police were telling protesters to remove their yellow vests, symbols of a nationwide protest movement that began in November against economic injustice and France’s high cost of living.
It was the fifth Saturday of protests in the French capital
but there were many fewer protesters than in previous weeks. Police
said up to 3,000 protesters were in the streets of Paris in the
afternoon, compared to 10,000 a week ago, when protests degenerated into
violence and looting for the second week in a row.
Police headquarters said 96 people were taken into custody Saturday.
The French press quoted authorities as saying that 33,500 protesters
turned out nationwide Saturday, less than half the number of the
previous week.
___
3:20 p.m.
French
police have fired tear gas across the Champs-Elysees Avenue in Paris
and protesters have scuffled with police outside the city’s Opera house amid the fifth straight weekend of protests by the “yellow vests” movement.
Saturday saw mostly peaceful anti-government protests in the French capital but
violence broke out at its margins, as groups of yellow vests tried to
break through police lines as they protested France’s high cost of
living.
There were clashes at Opera, where some demonstrators had gathered to voice their grievances. And French police unleashed repeated discharges of tear gas along Paris’ premier shopping street, the Champs-Elysees, although the back-and-forth fell short of previous violence that had scarred the avenue with broken windows and looted stores.
French police have detained 85 people in Paris in Saturday’s protests.
___
3 p.m.
Belgian police say a man has died after he crashed his car into a truck at a protesters’ roadblock on the Franco-Belgian border.
The accident brings to seven the number of protest-related deaths since a wave of anti-government yellow vest demonstrations began sweeping France more than a month ago.
Jonathan Pfund, a press officer at Belgium’s Federal Police, said the crash happened Saturday when a driver hit one of the trucks that had been stalled at the roadblock.
Pfund did not give a precise age for the man but said he was born in 1969, making him either 48 or 49.
In the French capital on Saturday, police say 85 people have been
detained on the fifth straight weekend of protests by the yellow vests
movement, which is protesting the high cost of living.
___
1:35 p.m.
Paris police say 85 people have been detained in Paris on the fifth straight weekend of protests by the “yellow vests” movement, where thousands of people converged in the French capital.
Police say of those detained, 46 people have been arrested. No details have been given about why they were taken into custody.
Limited scuffles broke out between protesters and police on
the sidelines of largely peaceful demonstrations near the city’s
Champs-Elysees boulevard, with riot police firing small amounts
of tear gas to disperse groups of protesters heading down the side
streets off the main avenue.
About 8,000 police and 14 armored vehicles were deployed in Paris for
the demonstration, after similar protests in recent weekends turned
violent, with protesters smashing and looting stores and setting up
burning barricades in the streets.
___
12 p.m.
More scuffles have broken out in central Paris among “yellow vest” protesters and police, who fired tear gas to disperse a crowd trying to make their way through police lines.
The clashes broke out in a side street near the capital’s famed
Champs-Elysees boulevard Saturday morning, as groups of protesters
headed off the main avenue into smaller nearby roads, some of them with
traffic still flowing. Riot police blocked off access to some streets, attempting to keep the protests in specific areas.
Saturday marks the fifth straight weekend of demonstrations by the “yellow vest” movement, which takes its name from the fluorescent safety vests French motorists carry in their vehicles.
It emerged mid-November as a protest against fuel tax increases and morphed into an expression of rage against the government
___
11:30 a.m.
A minor scuffle has broken out between protesters and police in Paris during demonstrations by the “yellow vest” movement, with police briefly using pepper spray to disperse a crowd.
The scuffle broke out on the Champs-Elysees boulevard in the French capital late Saturday morning. Thousands
of people were gathering on the wide boulevard amid a heavy police
presence after previous protests turned violent. The scuffle was quickly
over, and protesters began marching toward the landmark Arc de Triomphe at the end of the avenue.
Saturday marks the fifth straight weekend of demonstrations by the
“yellow vest” movement, which takes its name from the fluorescent safety
vests French motorists carry in their vehicles. It emerged in
mid-November as a protest against fuel tax increases and morphed into an expression of rage against the government.
___
10:15 a.m.
Paris police say 21 people have been detained in the French capital before protests by the “yellow vests” movement.
Thousands of police and other members of the security forces have been deployed in Paris for the fifth straight weekend of demonstrations and the government has called for calm after previous protests turned violent.
The “yellow vest” movement, which takes its name from the fluorescent
safety vests French motorists must all have in their vehicles, emerged
in mid-November as a protest against fuel tax increases.
Paris
police said 21 people were detained by midmorning. Security forces in
riot gear were positioned around central train stations and along the
famed Champs-Elysees, where shops were closed and their
windows boarded up in anticipation of the protests as hundreds of people
began walking along the broad boulevard.
___
9:20 a.m.
A strong police presence has deployed in Paris before planned demonstrations by the “yellow vest” protesters, with authorities repeating calls for calm after previous violent protests and rioting.
Security forces in riot gear are positioned around central train
stations and along the famed Champs-Elysees boulevard, where shops are
closed and boarded up in anticipation of the protests. Last weekend,
groups of demonstrators smashed and looted stores and set up burning
barricades in the streets.
There was a strong police presence outside the central Saint Lazare train station, where police in riot gear checked bags. More than 20 police vans and a water cannon truck idled nearby.
President Emanuel Macron on Friday called for calm during the demonstrations.”
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