Around 80,000 security officials guard France against yellow vest protesters
Paris France Feb 4 2019 Around 80,000 security officials were pictured standing guard in France this morning ahead of another anti-Macron demonstration.
Yellow Vest protesters were seen marching through Paris and several other cities for the 12th weekend in a row to denounce Emmanuel Macron’s policies.
France’s yellow vest protesters are taking to the streets to keep pressure on French President Emmanuel Macron’s government, for the 12th straight weekend of demonstrations
This week, demonstrators in the French capital are planning to pay tribute to the yellow vests injured during clashes with police.
But this weekend they are paying a special tribute to their fellow protesters who were injured during previous clashes with police.
At least 2,000 people have been injured in protests since the movement began last November including at least four serious eye injuries.
This intermediate weapon can hurt, but faced with rioters, the police need it to defend themselves
Yet on Friday, the government warned police would not hesitate to use flashballs in case of violence by demonstrators after it was authorised by France’s highest administrative court.
The Council of State concluded that authorities’ use of the devices doesn’t constitute a “grave attack” on the freedom to demonstrate, or the right not to be exposed to inhuman or degrading treatment.
Interior Minister Christophe Castaner said: “It’s true that this intermediate weapon can hurt, but faced with rioters, the police need it to defend themselves against those who attack them.”
Today, protesters carried French flags and held signs attacking Macron as out of touch or calling for referendums tabled by citizens.
Protesters injured in previous weeks of violence were put at the front of the protests with some wearing eye patches with a target sign on them.
Jerome Rodrigues, a prominent member of the movement who suffered an eye injury last week, was among them and received a huge applause.
A French police investigation was still ongoing to determine how Rodrigues was injured.
Footage shows Rodriguez collapsed on the ground last Saturday near the Bastille monument, where protesters throwing projectiles clashed with police seeking to disperse them.
