France mulls state of emergency as protests escalate

The French government says it will consider imposing a state of emergency in the wake of the country's worst civil unrest in more than a decade, which has caught authorities off guard.

According to Press TV, two weeks of nationwide protests against fuel taxes and living costs by the "yellow vest" movement have shaken the county to its roots but President Emmanuel Macron remains defiant after calling the protesters "thugs".

Macron was to hold an emergency meeting with the prime minister and interior minister later on Sunday to discuss the riots, a day after accusing protesters of seeking chaos in the European country.

"We have to think about the measures that can be taken so that these incidents don't happen again," Government Spokesman Benjamin Griveaux said. 

On Saturday, groups of young men with faces masked, some carrying metal bars and axes, rioted on the streets of central Paris, setting a dozen vehicles ablaze and torching buildings.

“I will always respect debate and I will always listen to opposition but I will never accept violence,” Macron told a news conference at the G20 summit in Argentine’s Buenos Aires.

“No cause justifies that authorities are attacked, that businesses are plundered, that passers-by or journalists are threatened, or that the Arc du Triomphe (monument) is defiled,” he added.

Macron also stressed that France would bring to justice anyone responsible for the violence.

Scores of people have been injured and more than 200 others been arrested in clashes between protesters and police in the capital, Paris, alone.

“Those guilty of this violence don’t want change, they don’t want improvements, they want chaos. They betray the causes that they pretend to serve and which they manipulate,” Macron said. “They will be identified and brought to justice for their actions.”

French officials said at least 75,000 people had turned out across France for the so-called yellow vest protests on Saturday.

It was the third weekend in which people staged protests against the government’s economic reforms resulting in fuel tax hikes. Previous protests had already ended with violence, with two people killed and over 600 injured.

On Saturday, riot police forces in Paris used tear gas to disperse demonstrators after they were targeted by protesters hurling rocks and other projectiles.

Authorities said at least 287 people were arrested in Paris and 110 others sustained injuries, including 17 of the 5,000 police officers mobilized during the protests.

The French Interior Ministry said nearly 190 fires had been put out and six buildings had been set alight during the latest violence in the capital.

Interior Minister Christophe Castaner attributed the violence to “specialists in sowing conflict, specialists in destruction.”

The protests first erupted last month in rural France among citizens who said they could not afford higher fuel taxes. The movement has since transformed into a broader rebuke of Macron’s policies.

ME