Paris rioting: French government considers state of emergency over ‘yellow vests’ protests // France is deeply fractured. Gilets jaunes are just a symptom
NB: 2018 remains the 50th anniversary of 1968. It would seem it still casts a shadow over France. DS
When asked about imposing a state of emergency, Griveaux said the president, prime minister and interior minister would discuss all options available to them at a meeting on Sunday. The French president, Emmanuel Macron, has insisted he will “never accept violence” after central Paris saw its worst unrest in a decade on Saturday when thousands of masked protesters fought running battles with police, torched cars, set fires to banks and houses, and burned makeshift barricades on the edges of demonstrations against fuel tax. Near the Arc de Triomphe, one of Paris’s best-known monuments, masked men burned barricades, set fire to buildings, smashed fences and torched luxury cars on some of the most expensive streets in the city as riot police fired teargas and water cannon.
The paradox is this is not a result of the failure of the globalised economic model but of its success. In recent decades, the French economy, like the European and US economies, has continued to create wealth. We are thus, on average, richer. The problem is at the same time unemployment, insecurity and poverty have also increased. The central question, therefore, is not whether a globalised economy is efficient, but what to do with this model when it fails to create and nurture a coherent society?..
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/dec/02/france-is-deeply-fractured-gilets-jeunes-just-a-symptom
France will consider imposing a state of emergency to prevent a
recurrence of some of the worst civil unrest in more than a decade, a
government spokesman said on Sunday, as peaceful protestors were urged to come
to the negotiating table. The morning after
groups of young men wearing masks rioted on the streets of central Paris,
Benjamin Griveaux told Europe 1 radio:
“We have to think about the measures that can be taken so that these incidents
don’t happen again.”
When asked about imposing a state of emergency, Griveaux said the president, prime minister and interior minister would discuss all options available to them at a meeting on Sunday. The French president, Emmanuel Macron, has insisted he will “never accept violence” after central Paris saw its worst unrest in a decade on Saturday when thousands of masked protesters fought running battles with police, torched cars, set fires to banks and houses, and burned makeshift barricades on the edges of demonstrations against fuel tax. Near the Arc de Triomphe, one of Paris’s best-known monuments, masked men burned barricades, set fire to buildings, smashed fences and torched luxury cars on some of the most expensive streets in the city as riot police fired teargas and water cannon.
Then, by early
evening, rioters spread around Paris in a game of cat and mouse with police.
Luxury department stores on Boulevard Haussmann were evacuated as cars were set
alight and windows smashed. Near the Louvre, metal grilles were ripped down at
the Tuileries Garden where fires were started. On the Place Vendôme, a hub of
luxury jewellery shops and designer stores, rioters smashed windows and built
barricades… read more:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/dec/01/paris-france-protests-yellow-vests-gilets-jaunes-champs-elyseesThe paradox is this is not a result of the failure of the globalised economic model but of its success. In recent decades, the French economy, like the European and US economies, has continued to create wealth. We are thus, on average, richer. The problem is at the same time unemployment, insecurity and poverty have also increased. The central question, therefore, is not whether a globalised economy is efficient, but what to do with this model when it fails to create and nurture a coherent society?..
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/dec/02/france-is-deeply-fractured-gilets-jeunes-just-a-symptom
See also:
Posts on Piketty's work on inequality
