Police detain over 500 during Yellow Vest protests in Paris

19:00, 08.12.2018

Paris is once again a city under siege, as thousands of riot police continue to clash with protesters in the nation’s worst urban riots in decades. The number of detained protesters exceeds 500, as French TV Company BMFTV reports.

For the fourth weekend in a row, protesters gathered along the iconic Champs-Elysees boulevard, with some hurling projectiles at police who responded with tear gas, water cannons and stun grenades.

Authorities had prepared for the Saturday rally by sending in 10 armored vehicles, and closing tourist attractions such as the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre museum, the two opera houses and the Grand Palace. Four soccer matches were cancelled. Shops were boarded up along the Champs-Elysees to prevent the looting seen last week, according to www.news.com.au.

‘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.

World

Yellow Vest protests