French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe
France's prime minister held talks with opposition party leaders on Monday as President Emmanuel Macron sought a way to defuse nationwide protests over high living costs that led to widespread rioting and vandalism in Paris at the weekend.
The "yellow vest" revolt caught Macron unawares when it erupted on Nov. 17 and poses a formidable challenge to the 40-year-old as he tries to counter a plunge in popularity over his economic reforms, which are seen as favouring the wealthy.
Riot police were overrun on Saturday as protesters wrought havoc in Paris's fanciest neighbourhoods, torching dozens of cars, looting boutiques and smashing up luxury private homes and cafes in the worst disturbances the capital has seen since 1968.
When Emmanuel Macron rose to power, he put the environment at the heart of his agenda. Eighteen months later, anger over those policies has stoked protests that are a huge challenge for the French president.Rioters torched cars and buildings in central Paris on Saturday following two weeks of protests caused partly by higher fuel taxes which Macron says are needed to fight climate change. Some protesters called for him to resign.Macron's plight illustrates a conundrum: How do political leaders' introduce policies that will do long-term good for the environment without inflicting extra costs on voters that may damage their chances of re-election?It is a question facing leaders across the world as delegates hold talks in the Polish city of Katowice this week to try to produce a "rule book" to flesh out details of the 2015 Paris Agreement on fighting climate change."Clearly, countries where inequalities are the highest are the ones where these kinds of push-backs are mostly likely," Francois Gemenne, a specialist in environmental geopolitics at SciencesPo university in Paris, said of the political risks.Naming Italy, the United States and Britain as countries where environmental moves could risk a voter backlash, he said: "I guess it's one of the reasons why populist leaders tend to be very sceptical about climate change and environmental measures."The protests in France have inspired a similar movement in neighbouring Belgium, where protesters took to the streets on Friday.There have also been small-scale protests in Canada over Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's plan to impose a federal carbon tax on provinces unwilling to combat climate change.What was once widely seen by governments as a win-win transition to cleaner energies now looks more like causing short-term costs with huge social disruption, followed by possible long-run gains.Another challenge facing leaders is over how they use the proceeds from policies intended to help the environment: Should money raised from carbon taxes be used directly to combat climate change, or to plug holes in national accounts?French police clash with 'yellow vest' protesters in Paris, 122 arrestedCarbon TaxesMacron said after the latest protests in Paris that he would convene ministers to discuss the crisis on his return from a G20 summit in Argentina. Prime Minister Edouard Philippe cancelled plans to go to Katowice for the climate change summit.Macron introduced new carbon taxes to urge motorists to change behaviour and protect the environment.Macron has watered down some of his campaign pledges on the environment since he took office, and his popular environment minister quit in August over the sluggishness of progress. But he has shown little willingness to compromise in the face of the protests.The fuel tax is accompanied by other measures including incentives to encourage people to buy electric vehicles.Unveiling a medium-term energy plan for France last week, he held out an olive branch by saying he would review fuel prices each quarter, but said the carbon taxes would stay.His goal is for France to cut carbon emissions by 40 percent by 2030 and boost the use of cleaner energies at the same time. Emissions are currently rising and 75 percent of energy use in France originates from fossil fuels."When we talk about the actions of the nation in response to the challenges of climate change, we have to say that we have done little," he said.Macron has also said he will fight to try to save the Paris climate agreement, which aims to keep global temperature rises to between 1.5 and 2 degrees Celsius, a critical threshold.Scientists are increasingly concerned that countries are falling short on their targets and must be more ambitious. Yet citizens are worried about their immediate lives.French police brace for more violent protests over rising fuel costs"Policies Of Transition"In Canada, addressing the question of how governments use the money raised from carbon taxes, Trudeau's government has promised to return the money collected from the provinces directly to taxpayers.But in France most of the revenue generated will be used to tackle the national budget deficit, increasing anger at Macron, who left-wing opponents call the "president of the rich".Of the 34 billion euros ($38.71 billion) the French government will raise on fuel taxes in 2018, a sum of only 7.2 billion euros is earmarked for environmental measures.Simon Dalby, a specialist in the political economy of climate change at Wilfrid Laurier University in Canada, says carbon taxes should be part of wider measures to alter how people live, including better, greener transport and buildings."It is all about policies for transition to a post-fossil-fuel world, something that needs to be done quickly if the worst of the predicted climate disruptions are to be avoided in the coming decades," he said.Gemenne said the protests in France were unlikely to go away soon, and may emerge in other countries as they take more determined action on emissions.The danger, he said, was inaction, or acting too late to prevent global warming. At the same time, politicians need to be able to show they were acting fairly and equitably. Overturning Napoleon-era rights, France bans smacking kids
France's Macron learns the hard way: green taxes carry political risks
On Monday, protesters were blocking access to 11 fuel depots belonging to the oil company Total, and 75 of its filling stations had run dry, a company spokesman said.
The "yellow vest" movement, whose supporters cut across age, job profile and geographical region, began online as an impromptu rebellion against higher fuel prices but has morphed into a broader outpouring of anger over the squeeze that living costs are putting on middle-class household budgets.
The movement, whose members span the political spectrum and include radical fringe elements, has no clear leadership, making talks all the more complicated for the government.
French President Emmanuel Macron immediately went to the Arc de Triomphe after returning to Paris on Sunday from Argentina to assess the damage after rioters looted and defaced the famous landmark during a day of riots.TV images showed the inside of the monument ransacked with a statue of Marianne, a symbol of the French republic, smashed, and graffiti sprawled on the exterior ranging from anti-capitalist slogans to social demands. 
France's Macron visits Arc de Triomphe after Saturday Paris riots
Their core demand is a freeze on further planned fuel tax increases -- the next is due in January -- and measures to help bolster spending power. But they have also called for Macron to go, and many talk up the idea of revolution.
The government is struggling for a way to engage.
"Making a small gesture and then sweeping the problem under the carpet, just as has always been done for the last 30 years, does nothing to solve the deeper, structural problems," government spokesman Benjamin Griveaux told France Inter radio.
"It will just start over six months down the line ... That wouldn't be respectful of anyone."
Perpetrators of the violence in ongoing protests in Paris will be punished, said French president Saturday.Speaking during a press conference of the G20 summit in Buenos Aires, Emmanuel Macron said that those who are responsible for the attack on police officers and vandalization of a monument in the capital will be "held responsible for their acts"."What happened in Paris today has nothing to do with the pacific expression of legitimate anger," he added.Thousands of "yellow vest" protesters have gathered in Paris for the last two weeks to protest Macron's controversial fuel tax.French police clash with 'yellow vest' protesters in Paris, 122 arrestedFrench police brace for more violent protests over rising fuel costsDuring Saturday's protests, the yellow vests entered the famous Champs-Elysées Street throwing stones and bottles at the police and setting public property ablaze. The president said he would not accept violence and was ready to negotiate legitimate demands from the protesters. Meeting with Saudi crown princeOn the meeting with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Macron said he told him "we all want to reveal details of Khashoggi murder".Khashoggi, a Saudi journalist working for The Washington Post, was killed shortly after he entered the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul on Oct. 2. After weeks of saying he had left the consulate alive, the Saudi administration later admitted he was killed there, blaming his death on a group of rogue Saudi operatives. Last week, France imposed a travel ban on 18 Saudi citizens over their suspected involvement in the killing of Khashoggi. Overturning Napoleon-era rights, France bans smacking kidsSaudi Crown Prince sidelined in G20 family photo
Macron vows punishment for violent Paris protests
Public support for the "yellow vests" remains high, with seven in 10 people backing their protest, a Harris Interactive opinion poll conducted after Saturday's unrest suggested.
Anti-Establishment Anger
Macron says the increased fuel taxes are part of his effort to combat climate change, wanting to persuade French drivers to exchange diesel-fuelled cars for less polluting models. He said on Saturday he would not deviate from his policy goals.
As governments from around the world began a two-week conference in Poland to try to pin down measures to avert the most damaging consequences of global warming, the protests highlighted how costly some of those actions are likely to be.
France will consider imposing a state of emergency to prevent a recurrence of some of the worst civil unrest in more than a decade and urged peaceful protestors to come to the negotiating table, government spokesman Benjamin Griveaux said on Sunday. Groups of young men with faces masked, some carrying metal bars and axes, rioted on the streets of central Paris on Saturday, setting a dozen vehicles ablaze and torching buildings."We have to think about the measures that can be taken so that these incidents don't happen again," Griveaux told Europe 1 radio.Galeri: French police clash with protesters in ParisWhen asked about imposing a state of emergency, he said the president, prime minister and interior minister would discuss all options available to them at a meeting on Sunday. 
France to consider state of emergency to prevent riots recurring
Christophe Chalencon, one of around eight semi-official spokespeople for the "yellow vests", told BFM TV he would not enter talks only to "negotiate over peanuts".
Laurent Wauquiez, head of the biggest opposition party, the centre-right Les Republicains, has called for a referendum on Macron's energy transition plan. Jean-Luc Melenchon, head of the hard-left La France Insoumise (France Unbowed), and Marine Le Pen, head of the far-right, have called for parliament to be dissolved and snap elections held.
The hitherto uncompromising response of Macron, a former investment banker, has only reinforced a view among the hard-pressed middle-class and blue-collar workers that he is part of an urban elite contemptuous of their world.
Police fired tear gas, stun grenades and water cannon in battles with "yellow vest" protesters around the Champs Elysees in Paris on Saturday, marking the third weekend of demonstrations across France against high living costs.Police said 122 people had been arrested amid concerns that violent far-right and far-left groups were infiltrating the "yellow vests" movement, a spontaneous grassroots rebellion over the struggle of many in France to make ends meet.For more than two weeks, the "gilets jaunes" (yellow vests) have blocked roads in protests across France, posing one of the largest and most sustained challenges Emmanuel Macron has faced in his 18-month-old presidency.In Paris, masked and hooded protesters picked up and hurled crowd barriers and other projectiles in running battles with police around the world famous Champs Elysees boulevard.Six policemen and 14 protesters have been injured, Paris police said.Video: Riot police use teargas against yellow vest protesters in Paris"We are attached to dialogue, but also the respect for the law," Edouard Philippe told reporters. "I am shocked by the attacks on the symbols of France."Several hundred yellow vests sat down around the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier under the Arc de Triomphe at the top of the avenue, singing La Marseillaise, France's national anthem, and chanting, "Macron Resign!"On the facade of the towering 19th-century arch, protesters scrawled in big black letters: "The yellow vests will triumph."After several hours of skirmishes in the morning, police had appeared to clear the area around the Arc, but rioters and peaceful protesters subsequently returned. Clashes in adjacent streets also broke out where barricades were put up, car windows were smashed and at least two vehicles set alight.Along the Champs Elysees, peaceful demonstrators held up a slogan reading, "Macron, stop treating us like idiots!"Galeri: Protests against high fuel prices cripple ParisMACRON WON'T BE BOUNCED BY "THUGS"Macron said on Tuesday he understood the anger felt by voters outside France's big cities over the squeeze that fuel prices have put on households, but insisted he would not be bounced into changing policy by "thugs".Philippe said across France there were some 36,000 protesters and 5,500 in Paris. Police unions said there were 582 road blockages in France. Nantes airport in western France was briefly closed after protesters reached the tarmac.A week ago thousands of protesters, who have no leader and have largely organised themselves online, converged on Paris for the first time, turning the Champs Elysees into a battle zone as they clashed with police firing tear gas and water cannon."What message do the yellow vests want to pass today? That we set France on fire, or find solutions? I find this (violence) absurd," Jacline Mouraud, a prominent activist within the yellow vests movement, told BFM television.Galeri: French police clash with protesters in ParisBut a retired yellow-vest protester said: "The government is not listening. Revolution cannot happen without violence."The outburst of anger is strongest on the outskirts of smaller provincial towns and villages, and underlines the gap between metropolitan elites and working class voters that has boosted anti-establishment politics across the Western world.The immediate trigger for the protest wave was Macron's decision to raise tax on diesel fuel in a move to encourage the driving of less-polluting cars.The yellow vests, who enjoy widespread public support, get their name from the high-visibility jackets all motorists in France must carry in their vehicles.When they began, the protests caught Macron off-guard just as he was trying to counter a fall in his popularity rating to 30 percent. His unyielding response has exposed him to charges of being out of touch with ordinary people.
French police clash with 'yellow vest' protesters in Paris, 122 arrested
The anti-establishment anger spurring the yellow vests on could spell trouble for Macron in next year's European elections. These are traditionally fertile ground for the far-right and Le Pen already leads surveys of voting intentions.
Saturday's unrest was the worst in central Paris since a student uprising five decades ago. At times, riot police appeared overwhelmed. The Arc de Triomphe, a unifiying national monument that houses the tomb of the unknown soldier, was defaced, and a bust of national symbol Marianne was smashed.
French authorities have drafted thousands of additional police officers into Paris ahead of a third demonstration on Saturday by protesters angry at high fuel prices as security officials warned of renewed violence.For more than two weeks, the "yellow vests" have blocked roads across France in a spontaneous, popular rebellion against diesel tax hikes and the high cost of living. It has grown into one of the largest and most stubborn challenges Emmanuel Macron has faced in his 18-month-old presidency.A week ago thousands of protesters, who have no leader and have largely organised themselves online, converged on Paris for the first time, turning the Champs Elysees into a battlezone as they clashed with police firing tear gas and water canon."We're worried that small groups of rioters that aren't yellow vests will infiltrate (the demonstration) to fight security forces and challenge the authority of the state," said Denis Jacob, Secretary General of the Alternative Police union."Given the high level of security around the Champs the fear is thugs will go to other places," he said.Officials said they expected some 5,000 police and gendarmes in Paris, up from about 3,000 last Saturday. Another 5,000 will be deployed across the country for other yellow vests protests.Workmen erected metal barriers and plywood boards on the glass-fronted facades of restaurants and boutiques lining Paris' most famous avenue on Friday. The Champs Elysees will be closed to traffic and pedestrians will be funnelled through checkpoints."There's a lot of incitement on social media and we are expecting excess and violence," David Michaux of the UNSA Police union told Reuters, adding that far-right and far-left groups were expected.Three protests are officially planned across Paris on Saturday, including the "yellow vests", a union protest against unemployment and a separate demonstration against racism.For now, the "yellow vests" -- who take their name from the high-visibility jackets all motorists in France must carry in their vehicles -- enjoy widespread public support.When they began, the protests caught Macron off-guard just as he was trying to counter a plunge in popularity, with his approval at barely 20 percent. His unyielding response has exposed him to charges of being out of touch with ordinary people.
French police brace for more violent protests over rising fuel costs
French President Emmanuel Macron told Saudi Arabia’s crown prince Friday that international experts need to be involved in the investigations into the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, according to French media reports.Macron’s remarks came during a five-minute exchange with Mohammed bin Salman on the sidelines of the two-day G20 Leaders’ Summit in Buenos Aires, Argentina.Citing an Elysee official, reports said Macron also stressed the need to find a political solution to the situation in Yemen.“You never listen to me,” Macron is heard telling bin Salman in a short video clip of their meeting posted on the Saudi Gazette newspaper’s Twitter account.“I will listen, of course,” bin Salman replied.Khashoggi, a Saudi journalist working for The Washington Post, was killed shortly after he entered the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul on Oct. 2.After saying he had left the consulate alive, Saudi Arabia admitted weeks later that he was killed there, blaming his death on a group of rogue Saudi operatives.Senate stepping up criticism of Saudi Arabia: NYTUK PM urges Saudis to cooperate with Turkey
Macron says global experts needed for Khashoggi probes