PARIS: French "yellow vests" prepared for a sixth Saturday of nationwide demonstrations, but numbers on the streets are falling fast as the police clear protest camps in the run-up to the Christmas holidays. Fearing possible unrest, authorities said they were closing the Palace of Versailles and its gardens, a top tourist venue, on Saturday. A Facebook event organised by "yellow vest" leader Eric Drouet listed 1,400 people as "participants" in the Versailles demonstration with a further 8,000 people saying they were "interested". In the southwestern city of Toulouse, some 30 protesters held a rally lampooning Macron on his 41st birthday. The number of traffic roundabouts occupied by protesters in yellow high-visibility vests over the past five weeks has also markedly dropped.

Source: Bangkok Post December 22, 2018 09:56 UTC