The ad-hoc protest movement, dubbed “the yellow jackets” – “gilets jaunes” – because of the fluorescent vests French drivers are required to carry in their vehicles, has been spurred by the government’s refusal to back down from a hike in fuel price which has seen diesel rise by 23 percent this year. The bright yellow vests have appeared on scores of dashboards, indicating support for the blockades and go-slows that are being organised at nearly 1,000 sites, according to the grassroots campaign group’s official website blocage17novembre.com showed. In addition to the road blocks and “snail operations” some 300 demonstrations – many unauthorised – have been planned in mainland France and in the French islands of Corsica and the Reunion.
President Emmanuel Macron’s government has been caught somewhat off-guard by the wave of discontent, threatening to fine or arrest anyone who takes part in an unauthorised protest, blocks traffic or disturbs the public order.
Labour Minister Muriel Pénicaud said on Monday it was impossible for the government to gauge the support for the revolt, which is being boycotted by the leftist unions that usually organise such events.
She told the TV channel Public Sénat: “We are concerned about the safety of the people.
“When there are strikes and demonstrations there are usually people who can be held accountable, but in this event we are not sure.
“People have to be protected and we don’t know what’s going to happen because extremist groups are taking it over politically.”
Right-wing opposition parties have fiercely condemned the Macron administration’s threat to crackdown on the protests, accusing the young leader of treating French drivers with “contempt”.
Members of the “yellow jackets” movement are being treated with “utter contempt” and “violence”, right-wing leader Marine Le Pen said in an interview with Le Parisien published on Wednesday, stressing the scale of Saturday’s protests was being “blown out of proportion”.
Threatening protesters with fines and arrest is “inappropriate”, she said, adding she felt as though the government “actually wants the protests to get out of hand”.
MP Gilbert Collard, a close Le Pen ally, said the French had reached their “tax threshold”.
He told Europe 1 radio on Wednesday: “We have reached a critical threshold – any new tax imposed by the government will inevitably irritate the French.
“We are the most taxed country in the world … the French have had enough.”
He suggested the government tax aircraft fuel instead.
Conservative Senator Bruno Retailleau also lashed out at the government, denouncing its “contempt” for those affected by sharp hike in fuel tax.
Drivers’ anger is “legitimate”, he said, adding: “The French feel both trapped and cheated. They were told several years ago that diesel engines produce less carbon dioxide than petrol, and so they bought diesel cars. But now they’re being overtaxed for using their diesel cars.”
France’s Prime Minister Edouard Philippe said on Wednesday there would be no U-turn in the government’s policy of hiking taxes on fossil fuels to encourage the take-up of cleaner energies, despite the planned protests.
“We are not going to change course,” he told RTL radio, before announcing a bigger financial bonus for cash-strapped drivers who swap to cleaner vehicles.