“Yellow vest” demonstrators began gathering on the Champs-Elysees in Paris on Saturday morning for a fifth weekend of protests in defiance of calls by the French government to stay home. President Emmanuel Macron, facing the biggest crisis of his presidency, announced a series of concessions on Monday to defuse the explosive “yellow vest” movement which sprang up in rural and small-town France last month. The last three Saturdays have been marked by violent demonstrations, with burning barricades, pillaging and clashes with police in cities across France. Need for calmMany of the “yellow vest” figureheads, along with leaders of the far-left Unbowed France party, have urged protesters to turn out on Saturday to pressure the government into making further concessions. In a bid to end the protests, Macron announced a package of measures estimated by economists to cost up to 15 billion euros ($17 billion) on Monday.

Source: Egypt Independent December 15, 2018 09:11 UTC