France deploys military vehicles to take on Paris ‘Yellow Vests’ Protests

13:32, 08.12.2018

France deployed armored vehicles that have been used in war zones to take on violent protests which have ravaged the capital.

French Prime Minister Édouard Philippe said Thursday that security forces were set to send in up to a dozen Berliet VXB-170s, known to the country’s National Gendarmerie as the VBRG, alongside 8,000 police and gendarme officers Saturday to secure Paris as the gilets jaunes, or “yellow vests,” demonstrations tore through streets in protest of a proposed fuel tax and other unpopular government policies. Philippe pointed to looting and destruction of property in justifying the rare measure.

“We are facing people who are not there to demonstrate but are there to smash things up and we want to ensure that we’re not leaving them to do as they please,” Philippe told French broadcaster TF1.

‘Yellow Vests’ protests, named after the high-visibility safety jackets French motorists have to keep in their cars, erupted in November over the squeeze on household budgets caused by fuel taxes.

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Yellow Vests