Emmanuel Macron, president of France (Image: Getty)
French President Emmanuel Macron on Monday denounced the trivialisation of violence after rallies to mark the first anniversary of the anti-government “yellow vest” movement degenerated into chaos.
M Macron said: “When hatred strikes and destruction plays out in the streets, too many people stay silent and therefore become complicit [in the unrest].”
Rioters have “perverted” the yellow vest movement and seek nothing more than “lawlessness and violence,” Mr Macron continued.
His comments echoed those of Interior Minister Christophe Castaner, who on Sunday blamed the “thugs” and “brutes” for the violence that hit demonstrations.
M Castaner told Europe 1 radio: “Yesterday, what we saw were few demonstrators, but many thugs, brutes and fools.”
Government spokeswoman Sibeth Ndiaye, for her part, deplored the fact that the citizen-led movement had been “torn apart” by “ultra” leftists.
The yellow vest movement started as a peaceful protest against planned fuel tax hikes, but rapidly snowballed into a working-class revolt against the pro-business government.
Clashes broke out across France as yellow vest activists rallied to prove the movement is still going strong a year after the first mass protest on November 17, 2018, which at one point drew 282,000 people.
A total of 28,000 people took to the streets nationwide on Saturday, including 4,700 in Paris, according to the interior ministry.
But the protests – “Act 53” – marked the first serious skirmishes for months in Paris between riot police and demonstrators.
Yellow vest protester kicks tear gas canister back to riot police (Image: Getty)
Protesters, many clad in black and hiding their faces, torched bins and cars and pelted police with stones and bottles. Police responded with tear gas and blasts from water cannons.
Demonstrators also vandalised an HSBC bank branch at the Place d’Italie and clashed with police near the Porte de Champerret, close to the Arc du Triomphe.
A total of 254 protesters were arrested across France, including 173 in Paris.
The yellow vest protests, so-called because of the high-visibility safety jackets worn by demonstrators, erupted in November 2018 over planned fuel tax hikes and the high cost of living.
But the movement quickly spiralled into a sometimes violent revolt against Mr Macron’s government, perceived by some as elitist and indifferent to citizens’ needs.
The protests have all but fizzled out in recent months but leaders called for people to hit the streets on Saturday to mark the anniversary.
Yellow vest demonstrator stands in front of the Fontaine des Innocents (Image: Getty)
The movement posed the toughest challenge to M Macron since he won power in 2017 on a promise to deeply transform France.
The crisis forced him to make policy concessions and delay the next wave of reforms, including a controversial overhaul of the pension and unemployment systems.
But M Macron’s plans to streamline the unwieldy and expensive pension system, which he says will make it fairer, is particularly unpopular and likely to reignite popular anger.
The next major street challenge to M Macron will come from a nationwide strike called by unions on December 5 to protest against the upcoming pension reform.
Students and yellow vest protesters have called for people to join forces with the unions.