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| A man wearing a yellow vest, a symbol of a French drivers’ protest against higher fuel prices |
The Eiffel Tower will be closed on Saturday due to planned protests in the French capital, the siteโs operator said.
โThe demonstrations announced on Sat. 8 in Paris do not allow us to welcome visitors in safe conditions,โ SETE said in a statement.
About a dozen museums, including the Grand Palais, cultural sites such as the Opera and shops in central Paris have also been ordered by police to close over fears of violence.
The French government hinted at more concessions to โyellow vestโ protesters on Thursday in a bid to head off another wave of violence in the capital over living costs and regain the initiative after weeks of civil unrest.
With protesters calling on social media for โAct IVโ โ a fourth weekend of protest โ Prime Minister Edouard Philippe said 65,000 police would be drafted in to stop a repeat of last Saturdayโs mayhem in Paris when rioters torched cars and looted shops off the famed Champs Elysees boulevard.
Philippe told the Senate he was open to new measures to help the lowest-paid workers. Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said he was prepared to accelerate tax cuts for households and that he wanted workersโ bonuses to be tax-free.
โI am ready to look at all measures that will help raise the pay of those on the minimum wage without doing excessive damage to our competitiveness and businesses,โ Philippe told the parliamentโs upper house.
The rush of sweeteners to soothe public anger began with Philippeโs climb-down on fuel tax hikes, the first major U-turn of Emmanuel Macronโs presidency.
Yet, five days after the worst rioting central Paris has seen since 1968, all signs are that the government has failed to quell the revolt.
A repeat of last Saturdayโs violence in Parisโs city centre โ which saw rioters deface the Arc de Triomphe with anti-Macron graffiti โ would deal a blow to the economy and raise doubts over the governmentโs survival.
Philippe said the state would do all it could to maintain order. At least four first division football matches have been cancelled and several museums including Parisโ Grand Palais said they would close.
ACT IV
An official in Macronโs office said intelligence suggested some protesters would come to the capital with the aim to โvandalise and killโ. There is concern about far-right, anarchist and anti-capitalist groups like the Black Bloc, which have piggybacked off the โyellow vestโ movement.
The Paris prefecture on Thursday told restaurants and luxury boutiques along the Champs Elysees boulevard to close on Saturday and asked local Paris authorities to prepare their districts for violence.
On Facebook and across social media, protesters are calling for โAct IVโ.
โFrance is fed up!! We will be there in bigger numbers, stronger, standing up for French people. Meet in Paris on Dec. 8,โ read one groupโs banner.
Security sources said the government was considering using troops currently deployed on anti-terrorism patrols to protect public buildings.
The protests, named after the fluorescent safety jackets French motorists have to keep in their cars, erupted in November over the squeeze on household budgets caused by fuel taxes. Demonstrations swiftly grew into a broad, sometimes-violent rebellion against Macron, with no formal leader.
Their demands are diverse and include lower taxes, higher salaries, cheaper energy costs, better retirement provisions and even Macronโs resignation.
STREET POLITICS
Reversing course on next yearโs fuel-tax hikes have left a gaping 4 billion euro hole in the governmentโs 2019 budget which it is now searching for ways to plug.
Citing unnamed sources, Les Echos business daily said the government as considering delaying corporate tax easing planned next year or putting off an increase in the minimum wage.
The unrest has exposed the deep-seated resentment among non-city dwellers that Macron is out-of-touch with the hard-pressed middle class and blue-collar workers. They see the 40-year-old former investment banker as closer to big business.
An Elabe poll on Thursday showed that only 23 percent of people trusted Macron, now lower than his predecessor Francois Hollande at the same period in his presidency.
Trouble is also brewing elsewhere for Macron. Teenage students on Thursday blocked access to more than 200 high schools across the country, burnt garbage bins and setting alight a car in the western city of Nantes. Hundreds of students were arrested after clashes with riot police.
Meanwhile, farmers who have long complained that retailers are squeezing their margins and are furious over a delay to the planned rise in minimum food prices, and truckers are threatening to strike from Sunday.
Le Maire said France was no longer spared from the wave of populism that has swept across Europe.
โItโs only that in France, itโs not manifesting itself at the ballot box, but in the streets.โ
