It seems like the French Government u-turn on fuel and energy prices has done nothing to dampen the mood of discontent felt by citizens and further demonstrations are planned for the weekend. Issues such as social inequality and proposed changes to the university education system (which would exaggerate these) have not gone away and tax cuts for the rich are not helping. After sweeping to power on the back of more socialist policies, one of the first decisions was to abolish the “Wealth Tax” which automatically made the wealthiest even richer while the poorest 25% saw their incomes fall – the phrase “let them eat cake” springs to mind.
Sadly the protests are growing increasingly violent – due in part to the protestors spanning the whole political spectrum and thus there is no focal leadership. This has led to the President looking into mobilising the military to protect important national monuments. It appears that the Arc de Triomphe was damaged last week and this is shameful – no matter how angry you feel destroying your own national treasures makes no sense. However, with reports of gratuitous violence from the riot police, the Government are as much to blame.
Just one of a number of videos showing the level of violence
More Here
Header Image Guillaume Louyot Onickz Artworks/Shutterstock
