NOTE:
Yellow jackets are owned
by all French drivers
-- required in case
they break down at night.
Having the vests
made it easy
for people to identify
themselves with the
first "anti-carbon tax"
protest in the world.
HISTORY:
Online entrepreneur
Priscilla Ludovsky,
started a
Change.org petition
back in May 2018
calling for fuel prices
to be lowered.
It was picked up by
local radio and a local
newspaper article,
which went viral
on Facebook.
By October 2018
the petition had over
800,000 signatures.
Truck drivers
Eric Drouet
and Bruno Lefevre
created a Facebook
event calling
for people
to block roads on
November 17, 2018.
The movement began
without official leaders
and has remained
leaderless, which is
very unusual.
France
November 2018
288,000 protesters.
Ay 2,000 locations
across France.
Dressed in
gilets jaunes
(yellow vests).
Blockaded
highways
and gas stations.
Marched through
town centers.
The protests
were sparked
by a fuel tax hike.
A tax hike to support
the government's
commitment to meeting
its international obligations
to reduce CO2 emissions.
The fuel-price hike would
finance renewable-energy
projects, and discourage
the use of diesel fuel
and gasoline powered cars.
But the
fuel-tax hike
happened to
come AFTER
the price
of diesel fuel
had risen 23%
in the past year.
Only 13% of people
in Paris drive cars,
But people
who live outside
major cities
rely heavily
on their cars.
A popular
yellow-vest slogan:
"The government talks
about the end of the world
(from CO2 enissions).
We are talking about
the end of the month!"
(our household bills)
The government’s
decision to cut
the speed limit
on rural roads
from 90 to 80km/h
(around 50mph) ,
in early January,
further irritated
people.
Many saw it
as an excuse
to make money
out of issuing more
speeding tickets.
In response,
the yellow vests
disabled over half
the country’s
speed cameras,
usually by
covering them
in tape, painting
them black,
or smashing them.
The fuel-tax hike
was put on hold,
just three weeks
into the protests.
President Macron
issued a €10 billion
package of
wage increases
and tax cuts
for low earners
and pensioners.
Companies were
encouraged to give
Christmas bonuses,
which would be tax free
up to 1,000€.
The French
working classes
were making
their voices heard.
Between 2000 and 2010,
75% of economic growth
occurred in France’s
metropolitan areas,
and the GDP of these areas
is now 50% higher than
the rest of the country.
Moving to the big cities
to find work has become
nearly impossible as
housing costs soared.
Policies are frequently decided
by the very strong president
in France, without significant
consultation.
There is no effective
legislative body
to stop the president.
New policies are abandoned
only in the face of public outcry,
including strikes and resistance
in the streets.’
Nearly three-quarters
of French people
think that politicians
are ‘corrupt’
and 87% feel
that governments
(the left and the right)
take no interest
in ‘people like them’.
Around the time
of the first yellow-vest
protests, just 25%
of French voters said
they approved of
President Macron.
In contrast, 73%
told pollsters they
supported the gilets
jaunes (yellow vests).
The third weekend
of yellow vest protests
was too violent.
Paris protests turned
into riots.
The Arc de Triomphe
was sprayed with graffiti.
Over 100 cars
were set on fire.
Between
November 2018
and June 2019,
according to
independent
journalist
David Dufresne
and Médiapart:
860 protesters
were injured
by the police:
– 315 suffered head injuries;
-- 24 lost the use of an eye; and
-- five had hands torn off.
Victims included protesters,
journalists and medics.
The main source of injuries
were ‘Flashball’ rubber bullets,
a non-lethal weapon banned in
every EU country, except France.