EU Le Gilets Jaune protests thread - Do you hear the people sing? Singing the songs of angry men?

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https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-46233560

One protester has died and dozens were injured as almost a quarter of a million people took to the streets of France, angry at rising fuel prices.

The female protester who died was struck after a driver surrounded by demonstrators panicked and accelerated.

The "yellow vests", so-called after the high-visibility jackets they are required to carry in their cars, blocked motorways and roundabouts.

They accuse President Emmanuel Macron of abandoning "the little people".

Mr Macron has not so far commented on the protests, some of which have seen demonstrators call for him to resign.

But he admitted earlier in the week that he had not "really managed to reconcile the French people with their leaders".

Nonetheless, he accused his political opponents of hijacking the movement in order to block his reform programme.

What has happened so far?
Some 244,000 people took part in protests across France, the interior ministry said in its latest update.

It said 106 people were injured during the day, five seriously, with 52 people arrested.

Most of the protests have been taking place without incident although several of the injuries came when drivers tried to force their way through protesters.

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Image copyrightREUTERS
Image captionA driver forces a car through a group of protesters in Donges, western France
Chantal Mazet, 63, was killed in the south-eastern Savoy region when a driver who was taking her daughter to hospital panicked at being blocked by about 50 demonstrators, who were striking the roof of her vehicle, and drove into them.

The driver has been taken into police custody in a state of shock.

In Paris protesters approaching the Élysée Palace, the president's official residence, were repelled with tear gas.

Why are drivers on the warpath?
The price of diesel, the most commonly used fuel in French cars, has risen by around 23% over the past 12 months to an average of €1.51 (£1.32; $1.71) per litre, its highest point since the early 2000s, AFP news agency reports.

World oil prices did rise before falling back again but the Macron government raised its hydrocarbon tax this year by 7.6 cents per litre on diesel and 3.9 cents on petrol, as part of a campaign for cleaner cars and fuel.

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Image copyrightEPA
Image captionTear gas was used to disperse protesters in Paris
The decision to impose a further increase of 6.5 cents on diesel and 2.9 cents on petrol on 1 January 2019 was seen as the final straw.

Speaking on Wednesday, the president blamed world oil prices for three-quarters of the price rise. He also said more tax on fossil fuels was needed to fund renewable energy investments.

How big is the movement?
It has broad support. Nearly three-quarters of respondents to a poll by the Elabe institute backed the Yellow Vests and 70% wanted the government to reverse the fuel tax hikes.

More than half of French people who voted for Mr Macron support the protests, Elabe's Vincent Thibault told AFP.

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Image copyrightREUTERS
Image captionPolice attend as protesters block a motorway in Antibes
"The expectations and discontent over spending power are fairly broad, it's not just something that concerns rural France or the lower classes," he said.

The BBC's Lucy Williamson in Paris says the movement has grown via social media into a broad and public criticism of Mr Macron's economic policies.

Are opposition politicians involved?
They have certainly tried to tap into it. Far-right leader Marine Le Pen, who was defeated by Mr Macron in the second round of the presidential election, has been encouraging it on Twitter.

She said: "The government shouldn't be afraid of French people who come to express their revolt and do it in a peaceful fashion."

Image Copyright @MLP_officiel@MLP_OFFICIEL
Report
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Laurent Wauquiez, leader of the centre-right Republicans, called on the Macron government to scrap the next planned increase in carbon tax on fossil fuels in January to offset rising vehicle fuel prices.

Mr Castaner has described Saturday's action as a "political protest with the Republicans behind it".

Olivier Faure, leader of the left-wing Socialist Party said the movement - which has no single leader and is not linked to any trade union - had been "born outside political parties".

"People want politicians to listen to them and respond. Their demand is to have purchasing power and financial justice," he said.

Image Copyright @faureolivier@FAUREOLIVIER
Report
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Is there any room for compromise?
On Wednesday, the government announced action to help poor families pay their energy and transport bills.

Prime Minister Edouard Philippe announced that 5.6 million households would receive energy subsidies. Currently 3.6 million receive them.

A state scrappage bonus on polluting vehicles would also be doubled for France's poorest families, he said, and fuel tax credits would be brought in for people who depend on their cars for work.

Protesters have mocked the president relentlessly as "Micron" or "Macaron" (Macaroon) or simply Manu, the short form of Emmanuel, which he famously scolded a student for using.

Image Copyright @BBCWorld@BBCWORLD
Report

To be honest, I don't blame the driver at all.
 
So I did some research today. Police and SWAT units are now actively defecting to the Yellow Vests.

Macron is completely fucked.
He can always call in the Gendarmerie, and then the military starting with the new Guarde Nationale. That is why they need a proper putsch to topple him.
 
So I did some research today. Police and SWAT units are now actively defecting to the Yellow Vests.

Macron is completely fucked.
Dang, if the defections are really happening then things are heating up not cooling down. At this point, what can Macron do really? Bringing in the army full bear instead of boarding up windows like they're carpenters is probably not the best idea. And who knows if the army won't start defecting like I said was possible?

Oh and if something big happens on the 25th, I will say God really fucking hates Macron.
 

In no order:


https://sputniknews.com/europe/2018...nion-calls-police-join-yellow-vests-protests/

French Police Union Calls on Police to Join Yellow Vests' Protests

https://donsurber.blogspot.com/2018/12/some-french-police-join-protest.html

A video shows a group of police officers flipping sides to join the Yellow Jacket rioters who have converged on Paris. The rioters protest a new fuel tax imposed by parliament and President Emmanuel Macron.

However, Alexandre Langlois, the secretary-general of the VIGI police union, told RT, "Most of us back the Gilets Jaunes [Yellow Vests], because we will be directly affected by any rise in fuel prices, Most of us can’t live where we work, because it is either too expensive, or we would be arresting our next-door neighbors, so we drive significant distances.

It's only been a few so far, but it's very clear momentum is building, and as the Yellow Vests have about a 60-70% approval rating from France's public depending on which source you choose to go for, and have announced an intent to keep this shit going until Macron steps down, this is only likely to snowball further.

Meanwhile, in Dumbfuckistan:

'We made mistakes': French PM admits errors but hopes 'yellow vest' crisis is nearing end

:story: Can we rate an entire government :optimistic:?
 
Meanwhile, in Dumbfuckistan:

'We made mistakes': French PM admits errors but hopes 'yellow vest' crisis is nearing end

:story: Can we rate an entire government :optimistic:?

They're still hoping to get to 2019's EU elections, because their program is to transfert the quasi-totality of France's sovereignty to the EU.

I heard that is because of a project the EU has to create what they call a "European Police", meaning something like sending Portuguese police to Germany's protests to "calm the situation", then you don't get that pesky "nationalist attachment" that might cause the police to trun on you. It's genius!
 
Dang, if the defections are really happening then things are heating up not cooling down. At this point, what can Macron do really? Bringing in the army full bear instead of boarding up windows like they're carpenters is probably not the best idea. And who knows if the army won't start defecting like I said was possible?

I wonder how far he could push it (if he decided to go full despot and hang onto power at all costs) before mama Merkle and the rest of them get involved? She's got to be keeping a close eye on this and coming up with plans B-Z of what to do after plan A gets cucked into exile.

like sending Portuguese police to Germany's protests to "calm the situation"

Which is really exceptional when you take into account things such as language barriers as well as different laws.

It's hard enough in the UK where Scotland has different laws (even so far as the police have different powers of search, arrest etc) to England and Wales but a British police officer is a police officer throughout the whole of Britain so can be deployed to an area with totally different laws and no training in them.
 
Which is really exceptional when you take into account things such as language barriers as well as different laws.

It's hard enough in the UK where Scotland has different laws (even so far as the police have different powers of search, arrest etc) to England and Wales but a British police officer is a police officer throughout the whole of Britain so can be deployed to an area with totally different laws and no training in them.

The fact that they don't speak the same language is good for them: you can't deflect to dissidents' side if you can' tunderstand what they're saying. And keep in mind this transfert of sovereignty is something they want to do with all the countries in the UE: they want to create one unique "European Federal State"with exactly the same laws everywhere, and those laws won't be for hapiness and sunshine.
 
I heard that is because of a project the EU has to create what they call a "European Police", meaning something like sending Portuguese police to Germany's protests to "calm the situation", then you don't get that pesky "nationalist attachment" that might cause the police to trun on you. It's genius!
Yeah so you don't just get the protestors to feel like they're being oppressed by their own government you also make them feel like they're under foreign occupation.

No way this can escalate things.
 
Twitter activists are definitely daydreaming about how to replicate this kind of chaos in America and get rid of Drumpf without leaving the house.

The fact that they don't speak the same language is good for them: you can't deflect to dissidents' side if you can' tunderstand what they're saying. And keep in mind this transfert of sovereignty is something they want to do with all the countries in the UE: they want to create one unique "European Federal State"with exactly the same laws everywhere, and those laws won't be for hapiness and sunshine.

Wow, this globalism thing sounds great!
 
Yeah so you don't just get the protestors to feel like they're being oppressed by their own government you also make them feel like they're under foreign occupation.

No way this can escalate things.

Have you seen the state of the EU lately? I agree that it seems like a bad idea, but since when have the people at the top understood how the common person thinks? European citizens have zero say in decision taken by the European Council. The UE is a failure and dying. Have you ever seen a political organization that large just let the power go like that? They're gonna try to hold on to it however they can.

I mean, they've been spending decades trying to put this EU project into place. They want to make a unique european federal state where all people are united under the European Identity (and not your country's identity), from their point of view it'd be the way forward for their new multicultural cespool of a society where bankers have the last word on everything.
 
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COME ON COME ON COME ON

I hate him and all his ilk, but I don't think we should kill them. Sure it would be a good example and I would watch it with popcorn in one hand and furiously masturbating with the other, but a better solution is to emprison them for life and just make them work 7 to 8 hours a day in a warehouse or a construction site for less than the minimum wage and still getting taxed to death, until they die, either of age or exhaustion. That way they'll understand and no other way, while being, for once, useful to society.
 
I hate him and all his ilk, but I don't think we should kill them. Sure it would be a good example and I would watch it with popcorn in one hand and furiously masturbating with the other, but a better solution is to emprison them for life and just make them work 7 to 8 hours a day in a warehouse or a construction site for less than the minimum wage and still getting taxed to death, until they die, either of age or exhaustion. That way they'll understand and no other way, while being, for once, useful to society.
Yeah but the problem is that rich people don't serve time for their crimes unless they have nobody to turn to.

And I'm of the opinion that such an ironic punishment is actually worse than death. Treating them like Chinese Apple workers is a fate I don't want to fall on anybody except maybe U.S Congress.
 
giphy.gif

COME ON COME ON COME ON

I know you're shitposting, but this is exactly what the French do when the establishment finally pisses them off enough to make them put down the baguettes.

The rule of France remains the same as it's always been: An utterly inept government that periodically gets its shit punched in by its citizenry when they fail to heed the golden rule of the French (you can get away with anything, but the nanosecond you fuck over the daily commute and/or entertainment field, you're fucking dead, kiddo).
 
I know you're shitposting, but this is exactly what the French do when the establishment finally pisses them off enough to make them put down the baguettes.

The rule of France remains the same as it's always been: An utterly inept government that periodically gets its shit punched in by its citizenry when they fail to heed the golden rule of the French (you can get away with anything, but the nanosecond you fuck over the daily commute and/or entertainment field, you're fucking dead, kiddo).

Rien personnel, enfant.
They're still hoping to get to 2019's EU elections, because their program is to transfert the quasi-totality of France's sovereignty to the EU.

I heard that is because of a project the EU has to create what they call a "European Police", meaning something like sending Portuguese police to Germany's protests to "calm the situation", then you don't get that pesky "nationalist attachment" that might cause the police to trun on you. It's genius!
The fact that they don't speak the same language is good for them: you can't deflect to dissidents' side if you can' tunderstand what they're saying. And keep in mind this transfert of sovereignty is something they want to do with all the countries in the UE: they want to create one unique "European Federal State"with exactly the same laws everywhere, and those laws won't be for hapiness and sunshine.
It's precisely why they want a full-on EU Army and it's patently obvious to everyone; it has been from the beginning. They'd use it to harass or straight up occupy countries that oppose the EU's dictates, or to crush citizens of those countries that oppose the EU and actively resist like right now in France.

If the EU Army that Brussels is dreaming about existed right now you'd see it marching down the Champs Elysee arresting or shooting yellow vests Tiananmen Square style, guaranteed. But as resident military sperg @Jet Fuel Johnny pointed out in another thread they'll never be competent enough to get their shit together and have an EU Army, so this European Police Force is the next "best" thing that they can try.
 
Rien personnel, enfant.
*Rien de personnel, gamin. (I know I know, it just hurt my brain too much)

If the EU Army that Brussels is dreaming about existed right now you'd see it marching down the Champs Elysee arresting or shooting yellow vests Tiananmen Square style, guaranteed. But as resident military sperg @Jet Fuel Johnny pointed out in another thread they'll never be competent enough to get their shit together and have an EU Army, so this European Police Force is the next "best" thing that they can try.

I'd have to agree with him there :lol: And frankly, I'm quite happy that private bankers don't have access to a gigantic army.
 
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