Clashes: Gendarmes spray tear gas at protesters on the Champs-Elysees Avenue in Paris today
A protestor runs next to burning trash during a yellow vest anti-government demonstration in Nantes, western France
In the southern city of Marseille, police said 900 protesters turned out, amid cries of ‘Macron out’.
The official turnout numbers have plunged with the passing weeks. The government recorded 38,600 demonstrators on December 22 compared to 282,000 for the first major demonstrations on November 17.
But leading figures within the movement that has flourished outside of trade unions and political groups, say the low numbers are due to the holiday season and January will bring a resurgence of the street protests.
The focus of the protests has morphed from anger over fuel taxes to a broad rebuke of Macron, accused by critics of neglecting the rising costs of living for many in rural and small-town France.
Priscillia Ludosky, who launched the yellow vest petition against fuel price hikes, said: ‘We want to get our purchasing power back and have a say in the decisions.’
Protesters walk upstairs as tear gas is fired near the Passy area in Paris as blue flares stream down the steps
Gendarmes detain a man on the Trocadero esplanade in Paris as demonstrators clashed with police across the city
Demonstrators wearing their yellow vests demonstrate during in Marseille, southern France
French police officers arrest a man in central Paris where tear gas was used on crowds during the seventh weekend if clashes
French riot police officers detain protesters and scuffle with them on the ground in downtown Nantes, western France
Protesters scuffle with gendarmes on the Champs-Elysees Avenue in Paris
A protester walks in a cloud of tear gas as white and blue smoke swarms around him in the background
Protesters run away as police launch tear gas canisters in Nantes today, as tensions flare in the city as well as the capital
Government tax concessions to boost disposable income among the low-paid ‘are not enough’, Ludosky said in Marseille.
Hundreds of demonstrators, some chanting ‘Journalists – Collaborationists!’ traced a path around Paris visiting the central offices of television networks BFM and state-run France Televisions, and announced plans to march to other broadcasters.
Some members of the broad-based yellow vest movement accuse leading media of favoring President Emmanuel Macron’s government and big business and minimizing the protests – even though they’ve been the leading news story in France since they kicked off November 17 out of anger at fuel tax hikes.
The movement has increasingly targeted Macron and 40 ‘yellow vests’ on Thursday tried to storm the medieval fort of Bregancon that serves as his official summer retreat on the Mediterranean before being turned back by police.
Die-hard yellow vest supporters believe the movement will live on in 2019 and plans are underway for New Year’s Eve protests.
Nearly 8,000 people are listed on Facebook as intending to attend, insisting it will be ‘festive and non-violent’.
A few dozens gathered today on the elegant Champs-Elysees, the scene of rioting and violence between demonstrators and riot police earlier this month.