France has once again been plunged into chaos as “yellow vest” protesters take their rage to the streets for the fourth consecutive week, rallying and marching in 40 sites managed by the country’s biggest toll road operator, Vinci Autoroutes. The most affected region by the destruction was Southern France, with the Bandol toll station in east of Marseille suffering fire damage overnight. This sparked the closure of the A50 highway and traffic disruption.
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Several highway intersections have also been heavily damaged.
Vinci said in a statement: “Motorists should take utmost care as they approach toll gates and motorway access ramps due to the presence of numerous pedestrians.”
This is not the first time yellow vest demonstrators, who were named after the fluorescent jackets French motorists must have in their car, block roads and roundabouts across the country.
Since the protests started in mid-November, they have torched cars, looted shops and clashed with police officers in Paris, other French cities and even French territories overseas.
At least 1,600 radars, about half of all French traffic radars, had been damaged up to last week, according to Radars-auto.com, a site that tracks traffic radars.
And more than 250 have been entirely destroyed, it said.
These often violent marches have costed France millions, with Vinci estimating the damages to its installations will cost “several tens of millions” of euros since the start of the protests.
These assessments don’t include lost revenue as the protesters have allowed thousands of motorists onto the highways for free.
Vinci plans to send an invoice to motorists who drove past the toll booths without paying and whose licence plates were captured on surveillance cameras in the past four weeks.
The demonstrations started as a show of discontent over fuel tax increases, but it quickly turned into a protest against the stringent policies of French President Emmanuel Macron.
Last Saturday yellow vests protesters rallied for the fifth time in central Paris.
Police officers used tear gas and water cannon to sedate the protest, however the demonstration was less chaotic and violent than the ones taking place earlier this month.
Last week Mr Macron announced he will cancel the fuel tax increase, despite having defended it for weeks, and added he will increase the minimum wage by £89.84 (€100) a month from January.
He also said he will reduce taxes for pensioners in difficult economic conditions.