Prolonged Violent Demonstration in France

Prolonged Violent Yellow Vest Demonstration in France

Yellow vest truck drivers' violent protest

Rashid Hussain

 drivers and motorists have been protesting against the rise in the price of diesel. In France, It was believed that diesel was less pollutant than petrol, but now more tax on diesel has been imposed. Protesters have chosen high visible yellow jackets to put on while demonstrating, the movement is known as "Gilet Jaunes" in French for Yellow Vest.

The peaceful movement soon became a rebellion, protesters are not willing to put an end to the protest despite Government's proposals for decreasing price and engaging in more constructive debate. Motorists in rural and outer suburban France were already angry with President Macron for implementation of the reduction in the speed limit on most two-lane roads from 90 kph to 80 kph, in July 2018. At that time, bikers had also staged protests.

Both steps; rise in fuel price and the reduction in the speed limit, are seen in rural France as an attack on the countryside and the poor by a "metropolitan president of the rich". Now they demand the president to step down without any delay and negotiations. Three out of every four people seem to be in favour of the ongoing protest, they are worried about the country's slow-growing economy, require from the government that it should focus more on uplifting the lifestyle of the poor. Idir Ghanes, an unemployed computer technician in Paris, told the Guardian on November 24, "it is unacceptable that people do not have decent salaries, that at the end of the month, they are in state when they can't afford to eat" so many people are unhappy with Mr. Macron, most of the economic growth is centered in major cities, rural areas have been ignored. In early protest, the strength of protesters was around 2,80,000 which has now decreased to some extent.

A leaderless movement's slogan "Gilets Jaunes" has gone viral on social media, the Yellow Vest protest is unique in the history of France, it is not an all-time protest, it's held every Saturday only; but after turning violent, the demonstrators have been blocking roads, shattering shop windows, burning vehicles, and skirmishing with police, which has affected the country's image badly.

More than a dozen people have been killed, many have been wounded in connection with "Gilets Jaunes". Police has also fired controversial rubber bullets, injuring protesters. A regional governor for the Nantes area said, there has been a lot of damage to bus shelters, bank branches, travel agency, and a business.

The French government is taking every necessary step to calm down the protesters, but the situation does not seem to be normalized until their demands are met according to their wishes.