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FRANCE-PROTESTS-POLITICS
French ‘yellow vest’ protests spill over borders
PARIS, Nov 22, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – A wave of protests in France over fuel
prices and low living standards has spilt into neighbouring countries,
causing disruption for truckers in Britain and Spain and leading to arrests
in Belgium.
Several dozen people were detained at a fuel depot in Belgium near the
French border overnight Wednesday-Thursday, while Spain slammed traffic jams
on the border with its northern neighbour.
Hundreds of thousands of people wearing fluorescent yellow jackets began
blockading roads and energy infrastructure across France on Saturday to
protest against higher fuel prices and low living standards.
Road blocks and brief border closures caused traffic jams of some 11
kilometres (seven miles) on Tuesday on the main highway through the Pyrenees
mountains between France and Spain, the Spanish foreign ministry said
Thursday.
The movement was “obstructing the free circulation of goods between member
states” of the European Union, a statement said, adding that the cost was
estimated at two million euros.
“The fruit and vegetable sector is particularly affected due to the
perishable nature of the goods,” it added.
The Spanish government has made an official protest to French authorities,
and has also notified the European Commission.
Although the number of protesters in France has fallen dramatically since
the weekend, isolated incidents continued Thursday ahead of another national
day of action planned for Saturday in Paris.
Around 30 protesters slowed down traffic on the A16 motorway near the
Channel tunnel in northern France on Thursday, which is used by thousands of
trucks arriving daily from Britain.
Elsewhere in France, President Emmanuel Macron vowed an “uncompromising”
response to violence on the island of Reunion which has been hit by riots
that began on the sidelines of the protests on Saturday.
Reunion, off the coast of southeast Africa and home to 850,000 people, is
experiencing its worst wave of violence in nearly 30 years.
“What has happened since Saturday on Reunion is serious. We have made
resources available and we will continue to do so,” Macron wrote on Twitter
late on Wednesday, adding that paramilitary police would be deployed.
“We will be uncompromising because we can’t accept the things we’ve seen,”
he added.
Police reported that the number of clashes Wednesday night in Reunion had
fallen compared with earlier in the week, with 16 new arrests taking the
total to 123 since Saturday.
The “yellow vest” movement — named after the protesters’ jackets —
represents a major challenge for Macron, a 40-year-old centrist who came to
power in May 2017 promising to tackle high unemployment and cut taxes.
BSS/AFP/RY/1715 hrs